Clear Cookies, Cache, and History on Web Browsers

How to clear browsing history in various browsers

Whenever you visit a website, your web browser automatically keeps a temporary copy of all the files it used to display each website.

If you are having problems with a website, clearing your cache is a good way to "start again with a clean slate" and get a completely fresh copy of the websites you visit.

IMPORTANT: Be sure and close/quit the browser and reopen it after clearing the cache and cookies. 

What are cookies, cache and history?

• Cookies - small files sent to your browser from sites you visit. When you visit the site again in the future, your browser will send a cookie back to the site so that you can be served a more personalized experience.
• Cache - a system for storing web data to quickly serve it again in the future. The process of saving this data is referred to as “caching.”
• History - browser history is a record of the sites you’ve visited in the past. The record stores the names of the sites and when you visited them.

Before you begin

Clearing your web browsers cache, cookies, and history may remove data such as the following:

• Saved passwords
• Address bar predictions
• Shopping cart contents, etc.

While you should clear your web browsers cache, cookies, and history periodically to prevent or resolve performance problems, you may wish to record some of your saved information first.

Google Chrome

1. At the top right, click Chrome Menu 
2. Select History in the first menu.

 

       3. Select History again in the fly-out menu.

      4. In the left navigation pane select “Delete browsing data”.

• In the Delete browsing data dialog box select Time range to All time. 
• Place a check mark next to Browsing history, Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.  
• Click Delete data.

Firefox

1. Click the “Open Application Menu,” (hamburger menu) on the top. 
2. Click the History item in the pop out menu that just appeared.

       3. Click the Clear Recent History... menu option.

      4. Set When: to Everything > check the boxes for Browsing & download history, Cookies and site data, Temporary cached files and pages > click Clear.

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Microsoft Edge

1. In the top right-hand corner of your Edge browsers window, click the three dots. 
2. Click Settings. 

         3. Click Clear browsing data.

4. In the “Delete browsing data” dialog box set the Time range to All time > place check marks in the boxes for Browsing history, Download history, Cookies and other site data, and Cached images and files are all checked > click Clear Now.

Safari

1. Open Safari: Launch the Safari application on your Mac or iOS device
2. Access Clear History:

• On Mac: Go to Safari > Clear History. 
• On iOS: Open Settings > Safari > Clear History and Website Data

1. ​​​​​​Clear: Choose All History
2. Click or tap "Clear History" to finalize the process.

Android

Open your browser.

Android browser:

• Go to Menu > More > Settings or Menu > Settings > Privacy & Security.
• Tap Clear cache, Clear history, and Clear all cookie data as appropriate.

 Chrome:

• Go to Menu > Settings > Privacy.
• Tap Clear browsing data at the bottom of the screen, leave the defaults selected (browsing history, cache, and cookies), then tap Clear.  

Fire tablets (2nd generation Kindle Fires or newer)

1. Tap Silk Browser to open the web browser.
2. Go to Menu > Settings > Privacy.
3. Tap Clear browsing data.
4. Make sure Browsing history, Cache, and Cookies, Site data are selected. Then, tap Clear. 

For additional assistance, please contact IT Support Services at 531-622-2900 or ITSupportServices@mccneb.edu.