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How do I clear my cookies and browsing history in my internet browser? - Knowledgebase / Technical / Browsing and Internet / Browsing / Internet - PIA Support Portal

How do I clear my cookies and browsing history in my internet browser?

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Your internet browser will store various temporary files in the form of cookies and cached content, which can report your real information to websites you visit online. You can manually clear these from your browser, to remove any unwanted information from before the VPN service is activated on your device, from being transmitted to services that you visit online. Below are instructions on how to do so for the most popular internet browsers. 

Firefox: 

  1. Click the three lines in the top right corner of your browser. 

  2. Click Settings towards the bottom of the list. 

  3. On the left side of the screen, click the option with the padlock called Privacy and Security. 

  4. Next to Cookies and Site Data will be a button called Clear Data. 

  5. Click Clear Data, ensure the boxes for Cookies and Site Data and Cached Web Content are both checked.  

  6. Click the Clear button, and Clear Now when prompted and then exit the settings when completed. 


Google Chrome: 

  1. Go to Settings in the upper right-hand corner of the browser represented by three vertical dots > Settings. 

  2. On the Settings tab, click Security and Privacy.

  3. Click "Clear Browsing Data" at the top of the Privacy and Security box. 

  4. Select the Advanced tab. 

  5. In the pop-up menu, choose "all-time" within the Time range box 

  6. Select the following options: 

Browsing history 

Download history 

Cookies and other site and plugin data 

Cached images and files 

Autofill form data 

Sire Settings

Hosted app data 

6. Click "Clear data" 


Opera 

  1. Go to the Opera menu by clicking the three horizontal lines in the upper right hand corner. 

  2. Scroll down until you see the Privacy & Security section.  

  3. Click the Clear button next to Browsing data.

  4. In the new window, a pop-up window will appear. Click Advanced.

  5. In the drop-down menu, choose "All time".

  6. Select the following options: 

Browsing history 

Download history 

News usage data

Cookies and other site data 

Cached images and files

Autofill form data

Site Settings

Hosted app data

4. Click "Clear data" and exit the settings 


Internet Explorer 

  1. Go to Tools by clicking the gear symbol in the upper right corner -> Internet Options 

  2. On the General tab, under "Browsing history", click  "Delete..." 

  3. Disable the option "Preserve Favorites website data" 

  4. Select the following options: 

Temporary Internet Files and website files 

Cookies and website data 

History 

Download History

Form data 

 5. Click the "Delete" button 


Safari: 

  1. Open Safari.

  2. In the menu bar (top left of the screen) click History.

  3. At the bottom of the menu, choose Clear History.

  4. Use the drop-down menu to pick what timeframe that is desired to clear history and cookies from Safari.

  5. Click Clear History again. 

  6. Along with clearing Safari history, this also clears the cookies and cache.