When you visit a website, there is that possibility for some things to happen behind your back. It may be something potentially annoying like some spyware or adware taking advantage of your browser’s vulnerability or something as seemingly harmless as a cookie. Out of the various hidden activities that may take place as you surf the web, cookies should be the last thing to worry about unless you are very cautious about online privacy. Certain websites will generate cookies automatically depending on your action. Usually logging into a website or altering a site setting triggers a cookie. These cookies store these changes and personal settings to give you a more convenient browsing experience. For instance, if you checked a checkbox labeled “Remember my password”, that setting will be stored in a cookie and not in the server end. This setting won’t apply to another computer because that computer lacks the cookie. But it can be a problem if you share your computer with someone else. Getting rid of cookies is harmless as long as you remember your site passwords. Once you are ready to delete all of your browser’s cookies, you can proceed to downloading a freeware called CCleaner developed by Piriform.
- Head to Piriform’s website. CCleaner is the developer’s flagship product so you should see some link to the main CCleaner page. Head there and download the latest version of CCleaner. Get the free version because that version is enough to get rid of your cookies. Install the program the same way you would install any other software and you should see a shortcut in your desktop or Start menu.
- You should see the main CCleaner window with some icons on the side. Click the “Cleaner” button and uncheck all of the items in the “Windows” and “Applications” tab. Even if there are some entries that you understand, it is best to clear everything first so you can focus on the cookies and then any other specific areas you wish to clean up. Check the “Cookies” checkbox in the “Windows” tab under the “Internet Explorer” category. This will obviously instruct CCleaner to delete all of the Internet Explorer cookies the moment you click the “Run Cleaner” button but don’t click it just yet.
- Other web browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, and Safari are unaffected so you have to click the “Applications” tab to see those browsers. Then check the corresponding “Cookies” checkboxes so you are effectively turning CCleaner into a cookies cleaner. This is the time where you can check other items as well such as the “Recycle Bin” if you wish to empty the Recycle Bin as well. Just take note that you cannot undo any operations once you clicked the “Run Cleaner” button.
- In fact, if you click the “Run Cleaner” button right now, all of your cookies from all of your installed browsers will be deleted. If you only want some of the cookies to be deleted, click the “Options” icon from the sidebar and go to “Cookies”. You should see a list that shows all of the websites that made cookies in your system. Click on a site that you wish to keep and click the “->” button to add it to the “Cookies to Keep” list. You can add as many sites as you like. Head back to the “Cleaner” tab and click “Analyze” so you can get an idea on what cookies and files will be deleted. Once you are ready to commence, click “Run Cleaner” to carry out the operations.
