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Enable and Disable Cookies: When you let websites use cookies, they can remember who you are and make your time on the site more pleasant. If you want to use online services that require you to log in, buy anything online, or change the way a website works for you, you’ll need to let at least some cookies through.
But cookies also threaten the security and privacy of your browser. Advertisers use tracking cookies to follow you around the web and keep track of your interests and habits. They can then use this information to show you more relevant ads or sell it for money.
There is a place in the middle. You can turn off cookies in Chrome, Internet Explorer, Edge, Firefox, or Safari and then turn them back on when it’s best for you. This article shows you how to turn cookies on and off in all of the most popular browsers, making the task easy.
how to enable and disable cookies on mac
In Safari
- Click Safari in the menu bar and select Preferences to open the Safari General preferences screen.
- Click the Privacy tab to open the Safari Privacy settings.
- Clear the check mark in front of Block all cookies to enable cookies in Safari.
- Close Preferences to save your changes.
On Chrome
- Click the three dots at the far right side of your screen.
- Click Settings in the drop-down menu.
- Select Privacy and security in the left sidebar.
- Select Cookies and other site data.
- Click the Allow all cookies button to turn it on. It button contains a blue bullet when it is turned on.
In Firefox
- In Firefox, click the three horizontal lines at the top right corner of the screen.
- Select Settings in the drop-down menu.
- Click Privacy & Security in the left sidebar.
- Firefox blocks cookies by default. To enable them, select the Custom section to expand it. Remove the check from in front of Cookies to unblock cookies in Firefox.
how to enable and disable cookies on Windows
In Google Chrome
- Launch Chrome.
- Click the three dots icon in the top-right corner of the screen, and click on Settings.
- Click on Privacy and security > Cookies and other site data
- Under the “General settings” heading, you can customize how Chrome blocks cookies.
- Click Block third-party cookies in Incognito to block all cookies from third parties in Incognito mode. This is the default setting in Chrome for private browsing.
- If you click on Block third-party cookies, sites can use cookies to improve your browsing experience, but can’t view your browsing activity.
- Clicking on Block all cookies means that sites won’t be able to use cookies at all. This will prevent many pages from loading, and may break certain features on websites.
- Select Allow all cookies if you want every site you visit to use cookies.
In Mozilla Firefox
- Launch Firefox.
- Click on the hamburger menu, and then choose Options.
- Click Privacy & Security in the left panel, and select Custom beneath the “Enhanced Tracking Protection” heading.
- In the dropdown next to Cookies, choose the types of cookies you want to block: Cross-site cookies, Cookies from unvisited websites, All third-party cookies, or All cookies.
- Keep in mind that blocking All third-party cookies and All cookies may cause websites to break.
- If you want to return to the default cookie settings, choose Standard under the “Enhanced Tracking Protection” heading.
On Microsoft Edge
- Launch Microsoft Edge.
- Click the three dots icon in the top-right corner of the screen, and select Settings.
- Scroll down and click on Cookies and site permissions on the left panel.
- Next, click on the dropdown menu under the “Cookies and data stored” menu.
- To disable cookies, turn off the Block third-party cookies switch to prevent sites from tracking you across the web, and turn off the Preload pages for faster browsing and searching switch.
- Alternatively, toggle on Allow sites to save and read cookie data and Preload pages for faster browsing to enable cookies.
FAQ
What does it mean to disable cookies?
If you turn off cookies, ad companies won’t be able to track what you do online and get personal information about you. But this also means that some sites won’t work right, and you might have to retype passwords or set your preferences every time you visit a site.
Should I enable all cookies?
Cookies are not all the same. It’s best to turn down cookies from sites other than your own. If you don’t say no, the site could sell the information about how you use it to third parties. Sharing your personal information with third parties without giving you any control over it could also make you vulnerable.