Web browsers use a small portion of your local computer's storage to save page elements of visited sites in your web browser's history. This behavior helps your web browser to load pages more efficiently, but sometimes browsers may pull up cached pages, and not the most recent version of the page. Clearing this information can also help improve your web browser's performance.
Clearing Cookies, History, and Cache in Mozilla Firefox
To clear cookies, history, and cache in Mozilla Firefox,
- Click on the Open Menu button (the button with the three horizontal lines) on the right edge of the screen by the address bar.
- Click on the History to expand for more options.
Clearing History, Part 2
To clear the browser's history, select the option labeled Clear Recent History.
Clearing History, Part 3
You will now see a dialog box titled Clear All History:
- Time Range to Clear: Select Everything from the menu.
- Leave the default checked items checked.
- Click the Clear Now button. Depending on how much information is stored on your computer, this may take a minute or so to complete.
Clearing Cookies, History, and Cache in Google Chrome
To clear the cache, cookies, and history in Google Chrome:
- Click on the Customize and Control Google Chrome button (the button with the three horizontal dots).
- Select History from the menu that appears.
- 3. Select History again from the left.
Clearing History, Part 2
On the next screen, click the Clear browsing data button.
Clearing History, Part 3
You will now see a screen labeled Clear Browsing Data.
- Obliterate items from: Select the option labeled More to select All Time.
- From the list of checkboxes, leave the items checked by default.
- Click the Delete from this device button to clear the history, cookies, and cache.
Clearing Cookies, History, and Cache in Safari (Mac)
To clear cookies, history, and cache in Safari, go to the Apple menu at the top of the screen:
- Click on History
- Select Clear History from the menu.
Clearing History, Part 2
You will now see a dialog box asking "Are you sure you want to clear history?":
- Check the checkbox for Also reset Top Sites.
- Click on the Clear button.