Cookies are small files which are stored on your computer. They are designed to hold a small amount of data specific to a particular website and they help things such as keeping track of your visits and some activities to assist with page loading speeds and making your user experience better and faster.
Periodically it is a good idea to clear the cookies from the browsers you use.
Sometimes cookies can prevent new updates from appearing locally on your computer and clearing the cookies can assist with this.
Listed below are some explanations on how to clear the cookies from some of the major browsers:
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 – 11.0
Select the ‘Tools->Internet Options’ menu item, and then click the ‘Delete…’ button under the ‘General’ tab. Check the ‘Cookies’ option, check/uncheck other options as required and click ‘Delete’.
Note – the ‘Tools’ option can also be accessed by clicking the ‘gear’ icon in Internet Explorer’s toolbar.
Firefox 7.0 and newer
Select the ‘Tools->Options’ menu item (may be under the Firefox button) and click on the ‘Privacy’ tab. Click the ‘remove individual cookies’ link, and you will be shown a list of all cookies stored by Firefox. You can select which cookies to delete and then press ‘Remove Cookies’, or you can simply click ‘Remove All Cookies’ to delete them all.
Google Chrome 5.0
Click the ‘parallel bars’ menu button, choose the ‘Settings’ option, then scroll down and click ‘Show advanced settings’. Alternatively for older versions of Chrome choose ‘Options’ on the ‘Customize and control’ menu, then open the ‘Under the Bonnet’ tab. In the ‘Privacy’ section, click on the ‘Clear browsing data…’ button then check the ‘Delete cookies and other site data’ option and check/uncheck other options as required. Choose the time period you wish to clear and click ‘Clear browsing data’.
Apple Safari
Choose ‘Preferences…’ on the ‘Settings’ or ‘Edit’ menu (Windows) or the Safari menu (MacOS), then open the ‘Privacy’ tab and click the ‘Details…’ button. Individual cookies can be deleted by selecting them and clicking ‘Remove’ or they can all be deleted by clicking ‘Remove All’.