When visiting a website, you will notice (or should do – it’s the law!) a popup asking you if you’re happy with their Cookies. But what are Cookies? Cookies or Browser Cookies are small files continuously being added to your device. They are designed to hold data specific to a particular client and website. Cookies build up alongside your browsing history causing your computer to slow down.
So what canyou do?
- Choose what history you delete. Browsers allow you toautomatically schedule the deletion of your history, where it can either delete content every week to every month.This will allow you to free up space on your computer and stop it from slowing down.
- Be careful what you delete. You don’t have to delete everything, particularly if you rely on your machine to save your passwords. You can choose not to delete this if you wish.
- Think about whether you wish to clear cookies. Whilst they are tracking your web activity, they can be useful.
What device are you considering clearing the cookies from?
We are just curious and will not be collecting anything more than your answer. Click here to complete a one question survey.
Top 4 reasons to delete your cookies
- They pose a security threat– Hackers can use cookies to get into your account without a password. You might remember back in 2015/16, hackers stole the code related toYahoo’s cookiesallowing them to forge cookies for over 32 million users and give them access to people’s accounts without needing a password.
- Cookies can be outdated/corrupted– This can cause error messages to appear.
- They are filling up a lot of space of your hard-drive. When you first visit a website, your device starts saving the pages. When you visit the website a second time, instead of re-downloading the pages it loads the website a lot faster. However, a build up of cookies on your hard drive causes your system to slow down.
- They store personal information about you– Cookies remember the sites you visit and the purchases you make and advertisers (and hackers) can use this information to their advantage. So to improve your privacy, it’s best to delete them regularly.
Learn how to delete your browser history here
How does GDPR affect cookies?
Cookies have been causing concerns around privacy for a few years now and new GDPR has changed how they can be used.
New GDPR states that cookiesmust be treated as personal data because they can be used toidentify an individual through their IP addresses.
Tocomply with GDPR, organisations using cookies must ask for consent to process and store personal data. They must tell users how they are planning to use their data and are not allows to restrict access to websites or services based on whether or not consent was granted.
To find out more about how to keep your data secure under new GDPR, click here.
Our job is to keep your data and your network secure. This blog about your browsing history is just one in a series of emails to help you with this. If you would like to talk more about keeping your data safe simply clickhere.
Get in touch if you're worried about your IT support
FAQs
Clearing this data on a regular basis can not only improve the performance of your device and your browser, but it can also protect your privacy.
Is it a good idea to clear browsing history? ›
Deleting your browsing history has its benefits. For one, it can improve the performance of your device. Secondly, it can help make you more private online. To a point.
What happens if I delete my browsing history? ›
Browsing history: Deleting your browsing history deletes the following: Web addresses you've visited are removed from the History page. Shortcuts to those pages are removed from the New Tab page. Address bar predictions for those websites are no longer shown.
What's the difference between clear history and delete history? ›
Clearing your website visit history is simple: click History > Clear History. In the pop-up, pick a timeframe for how far back you want to erase. This is doing a lot more than deleting the browser history, however—it also takes out your cookies and data cache.
Can people see your history after you delete it? ›
Who can see your deleted search and browsing history? Once you delete your search and browsing history from your device, typically no one can access or see it.
How often should you delete your browsing history? ›
Generally, the consensus is that you should delete your search history at least once a month. However, the answer to this question depends on your personal preferences and privacy needs.
Does deleting Google history actually delete it? ›
Does clearing history delete everything? A lot of data is generated as you browse the internet, and clearing your history only deletes the record of addresses you've visited that are stored locally on your device. It doesn't remove your Google search history, or other data stored on remote servers.
Is deleting search history suspicious? ›
If someone is checking your Internet history, please be aware that if you delete the entire history including usernames and passwords, the person may become suspicious. To avoid this you may only want to delete the information for the Websites you visited.
Is there a downside to clearing the cache? ›
It's not bad to clear your cached data now and then. Some refer to this data as “junk files,” meaning it just sits and piles up on your device. Clearing the cache helps keep things clean, but don't rely on it as a solid method for making new space.
Is clearing history the same as clearing cache? ›
To clear your cache in Google Chrome
The most effective setting is to clear all browsing history for All time and to clear browsing history, download history, cached images and files, and cookies. Close your browser and restart to see changes.
How long does Google keep your search history? If you created your account after June 2020, Google keeps your search history for 18 months before automatically deleting it. For older accounts, Google keeps search history indefinitely unless you take steps to manually delete it or set up an auto-delete schedule.
How do I delete my browsing history permanently? ›
- On your computer, open Chrome.
- At the top right, select More .
- Select History. History.
- On the left, select Delete browsing data.
- Select how much history you want to delete. To delete everything, select All time.
- Check the boxes for the info you want Chrome to delete, including Browsing history. ...
- Select Delete data.
If a person is at risk of technology facilitated abuse, they should clear the browser history after each web session where logins were used, and sessions when they visited websites they don't want a perpetrator to see. They should be careful not to alert a perpetrator by over-using this.
Is it OK to delete history? ›
Clearing this data on a regular basis can not only improve the performance of your device and your browser, but it can also protect your privacy. Learn how to clear your browser history beyond your search data and recent websites.
Should I turn off search history? ›
The most obvious reason to regularly delete your search history is to protect your privacy. While this is most important when you're using a public computer, it comes into play on your private computer as well. After all, you don't want anyone to be able to glean personal information from your search history.
Can your internet provider see your history if you delete it? ›
Yes, your ISP can still see your browsing history even if you delete it from your device or use incognito mode. Deleting your browsing history only removes it from your device, not from your ISP's records. This applies to both traditional ISPs and mobile data providers.
Can your parents see your search history even if you delete it? ›
Can Parents See Deleted Search History on Wi-Fi? It depends on the router setting, but in most cases, parents can see deleted search history on Wi-Fi. This is because after someone deletes the search history on a device, it only wipes it off from the device while retaining it on the router.
How often should you clear browsing history on an iPhone? ›
If a person is at risk of technology facilitated abuse, they should clear the browser history after each web session where logins were used, and sessions when they visited websites they don't want a perpetrator to see. They should be careful not to alert a perpetrator by over-using this.
Can deleted browsing history be recovered? ›
If you like to save all browser history in your computer like other files, when you deleted the browsing history from the browser, you'll delete the history files from your computer. You still have a chance to restore the deleted browsing history files by using professional data recovery software.
