How to Clear Your Browser’s Cookies on a WordPress Website

Cookie, short for ‘cookies’, are pieces of information that are saved on your device when you visit a website. Cookies can be used to track your browsing habits and target you with relevant advertisements or content.

While much maligned as a means of tracking and profiling your browsing habits, cookies are an essential piece of software in today’s technology-driven world. Without them, many of the websites you visit may not work as they should, information you require may not be delivered because the website cannot identify you, and you may even discover that certain aspects of a website are disabled or unusable. That being said, while cookies are important, they can also be dangerous if not managed properly. This article goes over how to clear your browser’s cookies on a WordPress website so that you can enjoy a completely fresh browsing experience when you visit a new site.

The Basics

Before you begin removing cookies, it’s important to understand the basics. What are cookies, how many cookies do I need to delete, and why do I need to delete them? Let’s dive in.

What Are Cookies

Cookies are pieces of information that are stored on your device (such as a laptop, desktop computer, or mobile phone) when you visit a website. When you visit a site, the web server creates a cookie on your device in order to ‘remember’ you the next time you visit that site. Cookies are incredibly useful because they allow a website to remember what features or content the user found most useful when visiting a site previously, reducing the amount of info the user has to ‘recall’ when returning to that site.

There are currently four types of cookies:

• Session cookies: These cookies are only valid for the duration of your current browsing session. When you log out or close your browser, these cookies will not be saved and will thus be lost. Session cookies are usually used to track your previous browsing activity or to remember your login details for a site that uses cookies to remember users.
• Persistent cookies: These cookies will remain stored on your device until you delete them. When you log out or close your browser, these cookies will not be destroyed and will thus remain on your device until you delete them.
• Strictly necessary cookies: These cookies are necessary for the website to function properly. Without these cookies, certain content may not be accessible. As the name suggests, these cookies are strictly necessary and will not be removed regardless of your browsing activity. Examples of this kind of cookie include the Google Analytics cookie and the PHP HTTP_SESSION cookie.
• Performance cookies: These cookies are used to track user activity and improve the performance of a website. Without these cookies, determining the effectiveness of a website may be difficult. Examples of performance cookies include the Google Analytics Performance Cookie and the Yandex Performance Cookie. Because performance cookies improve the functionality and performance of a website, they are usually not removed even if you are not logged into your Google account.

How Many Cookies Do I Need To Delete?

As a general rule of thumb, you should delete all cookies that are not essential for the website to function properly. Bear in mind that a small number of essential cookies may remain behind after you’ve deleted the rest. The exact amount will depend on the type of cookies you’ve deleted and the scope and functionality of the website.

Why Should I Delete Cookies?

Cookies are extremely useful because they allow websites to remember your previous browsing activity, deliver personalised content, and improve a website’s functionality and performance. However, like any program or feature on your device, cookies can also be used to cause trouble.

If you suspect that cookies are causing problems – either you’re experiencing problems because you’ve deleted the wrong cookies or you want to prevent the installation of cookies altogether – you should go back and restore the original conditions. This way you can be sure that you’ve removed all cookies that may cause problems and can continue using the website as you normally would.

How Can I Restore The Default Settings?

Depending on the type of browser you use and the version you have installed, you may be able to restore the default settings for cookies. To do this, follow these steps:

• Locate the preferences button on the toolbar of the browser. On a Mac, this is located at the top right corner of the screen. On Windows, it’s usually found at the top of the screen.
• Click on the preferences button.
• Select the privacy tab.
• Deselect all the checkboxes containing cookies and clear the checkboxes containing the essential cookies.
• Click OK.

After you’ve followed these steps, you should test your cookies by attempting to visit a site that you’ve never been to before. If everything is working well, you can consider leaving the settings as they are.

If you’ve been to a site before and it remembers your previous activity, you may experience issues if those cookies are essential and you don’t want to remove them. In that case, it’s a good idea to work your way up to deleting them while continuing to monitor the effects of your deletions. If you suspect that certain cookies are causing problems, you should first attempt to disable or remove them and only then try to delete the rest.

Restoring Browsing Activity

If you’ve been to a site before and it remembers your previous activity, you may experience issues if those cookies are essential and you don’t want to remove them. In that case, it’s a good idea to work your way up to deleting them while continuing to monitor the effects of your deletions. If you suspect that certain cookies are causing problems, you should first attempt to disable or remove them and only then try to delete the rest.

To do this, follow these steps:

• Click on the settings icon (usually found in the browser’s toolbar) to enter the browser’s settings menu.
• Navigate to the privacy tab.
• Deselect all the checkboxes containing cookies and clear the checkboxes containing the essential cookies.
• Click OK.

After you’ve followed these steps, you should test your browsing activity by attempting to visit a site that you’ve never been to before. If everything is working well, you can consider leaving the settings as they are.

If you’ve been to a site before and it remembers your previous activity, you may experience issues if those cookies are essential and you don’t want to remove them. In that case, it’s a good idea to work your way up to deleting them while continuing to monitor the effects of your deletions. If you suspect that certain cookies are causing problems, you should first attempt to disable or remove them and only then try to delete the rest.

How Do I Prevent Cookies From Being Set In the First Place?

If you want to prevent cookies from being set on your device, you can exercise a degree of control over your privacy by using incognito mode in your browser. While in normal browsing mode, all of your device’s interactions with websites are tracked by cookies. In incognito mode, this tracking is prevented by temporarily disallowing cookies. While this feature is extremely useful, it also means that you cannot use most websites that depend on cookies for certain functions. Luckily, there’s a work-around.

If you suspect that cookies are causing problems – either you’re experiencing problems because you’ve deleted the wrong cookies or you want to prevent the installation of cookies altogether – you should go back and restore the original conditions. This way you can be sure that you’ve removed all cookies that may cause problems and can continue using the website as you normally would.