Google Chrome: Managing Cookies

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A cookie can be considered a sort of message that a web server hands over to a web browser. Cookies are used to classify a user and to save site login information for the user. Cookies are also info that sites save onto your computer such as session ID, user ID, etc.

When you clear cookies, the site you visited won’t remember any settings, you may have set up when you last visited. Some users may want nothing to do with cookies because of their dark side. Some cookies can be used for tracking networks or advertising purposes.

Clearing Cookies in Google Chrome

If you want nothing to do with cookies, you can always clear them. You can do this by clicking on the three vertical dots at the top right of your browser and choosing settings. Scroll all the way down and click on the “Advanced” drop-down menu.

Under “Privacy and security“, you’ll find “Clear browsing data“. This option will include the choice to either clear history, cookies, cache and more.

When you click on the option, a Clear browsing data window will appear. Various options will already be checked, but if you only want to clear cookies, you can go ahead and uncheck what you don’t want to clear. Right below the Basic option, you’ll also see a Time range option. This option will only clear the info from the time you specified.

You can either choose from the last hour, 24 hours, seven days and all time. This option will leave your browsing data completely clean, nothing will be left behind.

Block, Clear, or Allow Site Specific Cookies

It’s also possible to prevent cookies from being saved or clear them from a specific site once you leave it. To do this and more go to “Settings” > “Content Settings” (you’ll need to scroll down a bit) > “Cookies“. You’ll see various options as to how you can manage Chrome’s cookies.

For example, you can block them altogether, prevent third-party cookies, block cookies for specific sites, and only allow cookies from a precise site. To block, clear, or allow cookies for a site, you’ll need to click on the add button to add the site manually.

If you only want to clear cookies for one site and not all of them, there’s a way to do that too. Look for See all cookies and site data, and on the other side, you’ll see a small arrow. Click on it, and you’ll be taken to a new window where you can either erase the cookies for the sites you want or for all of them.

Conclusion

Before you clear all your cookies, it’s a good idea that to read up on which cookies are good and which ones are bad. Cookies are there to make your browsing experience easier, but if they are giving you issues, you know how to get rid of them. Do you think that cookies do more harm than good? Let us know what you think in the comments.