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Clear your browser history

Follow these steps to clear your browser's history, cache and cookies.

Written by Cristiana Ghinea

Cookies and browser cache store data from websites to make browsing faster and smoother. However, they can sometimes cause issues, so clearing them occasionally can help websites and programs run correctly, though it may remove saved settings and temporarily slow page loading.

To clear your browser's cache, depending on which browser you use:

Google Chrome

If you are using Google Chrome:

  1. Click the three dot menu in the top right corner of the browser.

  2. Click Settings.

  3. Click Privacy and security on the left.

  4. Click Clear browsing data and select All time from the time range dropdown.

  5. Tick the Cached images and files and Cookies and other site data boxes.

  6. Click Clear data.

  7. Close all Google Chrome windows.

  8. Open Google Chrome again and log back in.

Microsoft Edge

If you are using Microsoft Edge:

  1. Click the three dot menu in the top right corner of the browser.

  2. Click Delete Browser Data.

  3. Select All time from the Time range dropdown.

  4. Tick the Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files boxes. You can leave the other boxes unticked.

  5. Click Clear now.

  6. Close all Microsoft Edge windows.

  7. Open Microsoft Edge again and log back in.

Firefox

  1. From the History menu, select Clear Recent History.

  2. If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible.

  3. From the Time range to clear: drop-down menu, select the desired range; to clear the entire cache, select Everything.

  4. Next to Details, click the down arrow to choose which elements of the history to clear; to clear your entire cache, select all items.

  5. Click Clear Now.

  6. Exit/quit all browser windows and re-open the browser.

Safari

This is valid for Safari 9 (and later versions):

  1. From the Safari menu, select Clear History and Website Data...

  2. Select the desired time range, and then click Clear History.

  3. Go to Safari, Quit Safari, or press Command-Q to exit the browser completely.

This is valid for Safari 7 (and earlier versions):

  1. From the Safari menu, select Reset Safari...

  2. Select the items you want to reset, and then click Reset. Note: As of Safari 5.1, Remove all website data including both cookies and cache.

  3. Go to Safari, Quit Safari, or press Command-Q to exit the browser completely.

  4. Back to the top.

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