Clear cookies in Google Chrome

To speed up the network, the Google Chrome browser stores browsing history files (cookies). They contain information about frequently visited sites, an algorithm for entering social networks, online stores, other sites (with logins and passwords), a path to previously viewed pictures, movies and sound files.

This information helps to quickly load the page, go to the desired site without entering a login and password. It is convenient, makes working on the Internet comfortable. But over time, when there are a lot of such files, sometimes up to gigabytes, the work of the browser slows down and the risks of losing important confidential data increase.

Cookies are user identification files that are stored in the browsing history database. They contain important markers by which you can form a database of user preferences – settings when visiting sites, frequency of work on the network, logins and passwords, topics of pages viewed, advertisements. Based on the analysis of this data, a personalized identification of the user is formed to display targeted advertising of goods and services.

How does it work? The browser sends a request to the server, but first looks for the path to the desired page in cookies to determine the path to open the site.

The browser in the cache stores not only text files, but also the entire structure of frequently visited sites (pictures, videos, flash). Such a history can take up significant disk space. Some saved files can affect the correct opening of other sites on the network, significantly slowing down the browser.

Why clean it

Cookies are a database about the user, which he himself stores in the browser history. Not everyone likes such "surveillance", with a hacker attack, important information can become available to intruders. Therefore, cookies should be periodically removed.

Why it is extremely important to remove cookies from the history:

  • information about the files viewed, sites gives search engines the opportunity to make the perfect "portrait of the consumer" – what is interested in, what he buys. It is possible to form databases of advertising data for a specific target audience;
  • once making a purchase in an online store, being interested in goods, you create a database of interests on your hard drive, which is then used by the seller. It's neither bad nor good, but unfortunately not all sellers are crystal clear;
  • it is important that cookies in Google Chrome, as in other browsers, store user logins and passwords that can be stolen by intruders during a hacker attack on the PC – as a result, other people can use your accounts in social networks, stores for their own purposes;
  • if the volume of cookies is large, the system is forced to analyze large databases to find the necessary information, which slows down the browser, leads to failures, incorrect operation of the system;
  • sites begin to open incorrectly or with errors, or do not open at all, giving the message "error 404".

Therefore, for a safe and fast work on the Internet – cookies and cache in the Google Chrome browser must be cleaned regularly, and passwords must be saved separately. For comfortable cleaning, there are special programs, tools in the browser itself, which allow you to perform maintenance automatically.

Cleaning options

It is possible to remove cookies in The Chrome directly in the browser. There are convenient programs for clearing the cache and cookies. Each of the methods has its advantages and disadvantages.

It is possible to delete cookies in whole or in part, so as not to lose a quick login to frequently visited sites. But at the same time, it is important to provide reliable protection for passwords and other confidential information.

Complete removal

Total cleaning of cookies allows you to reliably rid the hard drive of all junk files. If you are sure that the information of the path, the addresses of the sites are not needed, and the passwords will be recorded in a separate file, then you can run a total cleaning. With this service, all Chrome settings are preserved, but the browsing history is permanently deleted.

Cleaning sequence:

  • upper right corner of Google Chrome – click on three points;
  • in the menu that opens, select the "History" tab;
  • this directory stores all data about the sites visited;
  • to completely delete all information, select the "Clear History" directory;
  • in the "Advanced" section, we define the period for which we clear the data;
  • click the "For all time" checkbox.
Deleting cookies for the entire period of time
Removal of Google Chrome cookies for all time.

Set the specified parameters of the history that need to be deleted – cache, cookies, browsing history. If you want to save passwords, then the check mark in this item must be unchecked. This is convenient, but does not guarantee protection against hacker attack and data theft.

When the cookies are cleared, we restart the browser, and the system will work much faster.

Deleting site-specific cookies

In order not to lose the download paths of frequently launched sites, you can clean the cookies of "large" sites where many images were downloaded, large in volume of programs:

In order to delete cookies of a particular site, enter the chrome://settings/cookies in the address bar of the browser.

A table appears with data about the sites visited. Right-click on the selected site, whose cookies we want to clear and select in the "Delete" window.

Table of cookies of visited sites
Deletion of cookies of the specific site

How to clear cookies in Google Chrome

There are several ways to quickly clean up. It is important to remember that it is often undesirable to do such maintenance, since the convenience of working in the program is lost. You have to once again enter passwords, look for sites that are needed for work or download, watching movies, software.

Using the Clear History tool

With Chromium, clearing cookies is easy:

  • go to the "Settings" menu;
  • select the "Additional Tools" folder;
  • after "Deleting page data" (if we want to clean everything);
  • menu "Settings" if we set the parameters for clearing cookies (period, personal information, logins, passwords);
  • in addition to the checkbox on "Cookies" and plug-ins" other cleaning settings are better to deactivate;
  • then run the "clear history" directive.

Clear history
Google Chrome
History Cleanup Tool

Done, the browser is clean and ready to go fast. To quickly call the settings, you can use the ctrl+shift+Del key combination, which immediately leads to the history clearing menu.

You can set the browser a program by which it will clear cookies at a specified time. This is convenient, since the need for such maintenance is often forgotten.

In the Chrome menu:

  • click "Settings";
  • then we go to the "Additional" directory;
  • then – to the folder "Privacy, security";
  • click the "Site Settings" button;
  • go to the "Cookies" directory.
  • Set the parameter – delete cookies when closing Google.

Done, the browser will clean itself.

In the line where the address of Chrome sites is written, enter the chrome://settings/cookies. In the table in the upper right corner, select the delete all command.

Before deleting, check the list of sites, perhaps you need some data, then you need to do the cleaning manually.

Manual deletion of single cookies

Again, select the path chrome://settings/cookies, which you enter in the Google address bar. In the menu, select the sites that you want to keep or delete irrevocably. This process takes time, but allows you to save important information for the work.

The best programs for cleaning cookies and cache, history and other junk information are Ccleaner, SecureClean, Cookienator, Bleachbit and Cookie Monster.

Google Chrome's secure login password storage apps – LogMeOnce, Last Pass and Dashlane – are available in free and paid versions.

How often in Google Chrome to clear cookies

The frequency of cleaning depends on the activity on the network. If you visit many sites with photos, video information, then you need to clear the cache and cookies at least once a week. When working with text information, it is enough to carry out a comprehensive cleaning once a month or set the automatic cleaning settings in the browser.

If you do not do this, then over time the network slows down, sites open incorrectly, the load on RAM increases, "junk files" accumulate on the disk, taking up a lot of space.

Mike Lombardi/ author of the article

QA Engineer, Head of Automated Software Testing Department. Knowledge of Java, C/C++, JSP, HTML, XML, JavaScript, SQL, and Oracle PL/SQL. Journalist and Columnist in the IT field. Website Creator and Administrator.

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