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You can clear cookies on your MacBook Pro by accessing the preferences or settings in each major browser (Safari, Chrome, Firefox).
I’m Jon, a Mac expert/enthusiast, and owner of a 2019 MacBook Pro. I clear my cookies monthly and put together this guide to show you how.
Continue reading to learn how to clear cookies from Safari, Chrome, and Firefox on your MacBook Pro.
How to Delete Cookies on MacBook Pro
Here are the steps that you need to follow to delete cookies on your MacBook:
- Open your Safari Browser.
- Click on the Safari menu option on the top-left of your screen.
- Click on Preferences.
- Click on the Privacy tab.
- Click on the Manage Website Data.
- Click the Remove All button or select the individual URLs you want to remove
- Click Remove Now when the confirmation pop-up appears.
How to Clear Cookies on a MacBook Pro
Clearing the cookies off of your MacBook Pro is easy, but if you’ve never done it before, it could be challenging to figure out how.
The method to clear cookies depends on your internet browser, but they share similarities.
We will look at how to clear cookies off of Safari, Firefox, and Chrome browsers. If you use an uncommon browser, just run a search on that browser on how to clear cookies.
How to Clear Cookies on Safari
Safari is the most common browser people use on MacBook Pros, so we will take a look at how to clear cookies off it first:
- Open your Safari Browser.
- Click on the Safari menu option on the top-left of your screen.
- Click on Preferences.
- Click on the Privacy tab.
- Click on the Manage Website Data.
- Click the Remove All button or select the individual URLs you want to remove
- Click Remove Now when the confirmation pop-up appears.
How to Clear Cookies on Firefox
- Click the Menu button on the top-right side of your Firefox browser.
- Click Preferences.
- Click Privacy & Security on the menu on the left.
- Go to Cookies and Site Data.
- Click the Clear Data button.
- Click Clear to permanently clear the data.
How to Clear Cookies on Google Chrome
- Open the Google Chrome browser.
- Click on Chrome from the top menu.
- Click on Clear Browsing Data.
- From here, you can select to clear out the cookies and/or cache from your browsing history.
What Are Cookies?
Now that you know how to delete cookies from your MacBook Pro, you might wonder what they are.
Cookies are small files stored on your MacBook Pro that watch and track specific data, which a website can then use to make predictions on what further data to send your way. They are basically a coded marketing tactic that will create a specific webpage designed toward your browsing habits.
Have you ever done some online shopping and noticed that the shoes or vitamins you were looking at are ads on a completely unrelated page? That is because of the cookies now stored on your MacBook Pro.
Each cookie stores a bit of data that other servers can use to cater to the content and information you see online.
Some cookies are coded to expire once you have left a webpage, while others may last on your computer until you manually get rid of them.
Many of these cookies can build up over normal browsing usage, so it’s a good idea to know how and when to clear and get rid of them.
Why Clear Cookies from Your MacBook Pro
There are a few different reasons to clear cookies from your MacBook Pro, and it is an excellent essential habit to have. I clear my cookies about every month, but you can remove yours as often as you want.
Every once in a while, you may want to clear these out for any of these reasons:
Privacy
I don’t like knowing that other websites track my habits and history online.
It feels like an invasion of privacy, so I usually clear my cookies often unless it’s from sites I am familiar with and use regularly.
You probably aren’t doing anything weird or suspicious online, but it might feel strange to know that companies or websites may be tracking your behavior with cookies.
It Can Improve Performance
Sometimes cookies can have a negative effect on formatting or loading issues with web pages.
If a website you visit often isn’t loading properly on your computer, but it is working fine on another device, like your phone, deleting your cookies can fix the issue.
Similarly, if you notice that formatting or other layout aspects are off or weird on your computer, cookies may be the culprit. It’s an easy fix to simply try and delete cookies to fix these issues.
Sometimes deleting cookies can also speed up your computer as you get rid of unnecessary files and data that may be eating up RAM or CPU. Deleting cookies could just speed up your browser, but it also might speed up your entire MacBook Pro as well.
Final Thoughts
You can quickly clear your cookies in major browsers on your MacBook Pro within their respective system preference or settings menus. And now that you know how to remove cookies off your MacBook Pro, give it a shot and see if you notice any performance improvements.
You can clear your cookies as often as you want to, and you can also prevent your browser from allowing cookies in the first place. Alternatively, you can adjust your settings to approve specific cookies each time it is requested.
How often do you clear your cookies?
About Jonathon Jachura
