What Are Cookies?

Do you know your computer cookies from your digestives? And do you know how to manage them? If not, read on to find out more…

What Exactly is a ‘Cookie’?

A computer ‘cookie’ (also called an HTTP cookie, web cookie, browser cookie or internet cookie) is short for ‘magic cookie’, which is a packet of data that a computer receives and then sends back unaltered whenever you visit a website. This data packet is stored in a file inside your web browser, usually called ‘Cookies’.

What Do Cookies Do?

Cookies help a website to keep track of your online activity. For example, they can store your login information, so that you don’t need to re-input the information each time you visit, and they can keep track of items in your shopping cart (otherwise your cart would reset to ‘empty’ each time you navigated to a new page on the website!).

Do I Need to Manage My Cookies?

Cookies typically expire after some time. However, it’s good practice, both in terms of privacy and performance, to periodically clear your cookies (a browser that stores a lot of information can run more slowly).
 
It can also help to keep adverts that you see online more relevant. If you suddenly start seeing ads for mountain bikes for example, after your husband has borrowed your laptop, you’ll probably want to clear your cookies! 🚴‍♂️

How Do I Clear My Cookies?

Different browsers and platforms have different ways of clearing cookies. We will focus here on clearing cookies from the most common Mac (laptop or desktop) browsers: Safari, Chrome and Firefox.

Clear Cookies in Safari

• Launch the Safari application on your Mac
• Choose ‘Safari’ and then ‘Preferences’
• Click on ‘Manage Website Data’
• Optionally, select the websites for which you’d like to ‘Remove’ cookies, or
• Click ‘Remove All’ to delete all cookies
• Once finished, click the ‘Done’ button.

Clear Cookies in Chrome

• Launch the Chrome application on your Mac
• Navigate to the top right-hand corner and click on the icon with three vertical dots
• Scroll down to ‘More Tools’ and select ‘Clear Browsing Data’
• Make sure that only the ‘Cookies and other site data’ box is checked, and then click ‘Clear data’.

• Make sure that only the ‘Cookies and other site data’ box is checked, and then click ‘Clear data’.

Clear Cookies in Firefox

• Launch the Firefox application on your Mac
• Navigate to the menu icon (☰) in the top right-hand corner and click on it
• From the drop-down menu, select ‘Settings’
• On the left-hand side, click on ‘Privacy & Security’
• Scroll down to the ‘Cookies and Site Data’ section and click on ‘Clear Data’
• To remove cookies, ensure that only the ‘Cookies and Site Data’ tick box is selected
• Click ‘Clear’.

You may have noticed several references to clearing your ‘cache’ whilst carrying out any cookie clearance. I will write more about your cache, what it does and how to clear it, in another blog. Watch this space!