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Understanding Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of information that allow your web browser to store and manage data and preferences. That information may contain things such as a user or session ID. The browser you use can save these settings on your computer with a cookie, and the next time you load the page it can examine the cookie and display based on the previously stored data. It is important to know that if you use multiple web browsers that each store their own set of cookies.

A good example of how you may have seen cookies in action are with advertising. Have you ever noticed that after searching for a product or service on one website, you then see advertisements from those searches on a completely different website? That happens based on embedded scripts that store cookies. Most advertisement windows will allow you to opt out of this should you wish to go through those preferences and choose what cookies not to store.

You can also manage your browser’s cookies from the settings page in each browser. It is important to clear the cookies from your browser from time to time, even though some may disagree. Websites, and browsers, change constantly even though you may not notice it. Stored cookies from a site’s previous version may cause the site to behave in ways it normally would not and display errors. Below we will explain how you can manage cookies in each browser.

Google Chrome

  • Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the browser.
  • Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu
  • Select “Privacy and security” from the menu on the left side of the page.
  • Select “Clear browsing data” and a popup window will appear.
  • Using the Basic settings select “All time” from the time range dropdown. Only select “Cookies and other site data”. Make sure to uncheck “Browsing history” and “Cached images and files”. Now click the Clear Data button.
  • Once the data has been cleared, close your browser and reopen to continue surfing.

Firefox

  • Click on the three lines in the upper right corner of the browser.
  • Select “Options” from the dropdown menu.
  • Select “Privacy & Security” from the menu on the left side of the page.
  • Scroll down to the Cookies and Site Data section. Click the “Clear data…” button. Only select “Cookies and Site Data”. Make sure to uncheck “Cached Web Content”, and click Clear.
  • Once the data has been cleared, close your browser and reopen to continue surfing.

Microsoft Edge

  • Click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the browser.
  • Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu
  • Select “Privacy and services” from the menu on the left side of the page.
  • Scroll down until you can see the “Clear browsing data” section. Click the button “Choose what to clear”.
  • Select “All time” from the time range dropdown. Only select “Cookies and other site data”. Make sure to uncheck “Browsing history”, “Download history” and “Cached images and files”. Now click the Clear Now button.
  • Once the data has been cleared, close your browser and reopen to continue surfing.

Safari

  • Click Safari on the Apple menu bar along the top of your screen and select Preferences to open the Safari Preferences panel.
  • Click the Privacy tab.
  • Click the Remove All Website Data button to delete all cookies currently stored by Safari.