How to restrict or block cookies in your browser

All browsers have the option to either block all cookies or just third party cookies – from all websites, or just the ones you want. All browsers have quick and easy options to delete cookies and many can even be set up to delete cookies whenever you close your browser.

How to delete cookies

Edge

Press the ‘…’ at the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Privacy, search and services’ and scroll down to ‘Clear browsing data’, select ‘Choose what to clear’ then check the ‘Cookies and other site data’ box and press ‘Clear now’.

Chrome

Click the 3 dots in the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Security and privacy’, select ‘Clear browsing data’ and check the ‘Cookies and other site data’ box and press ‘Clear data’.

Firefox

Click the menu button in the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Privacy and security’, select ‘Clear data’ under in the ‘Cookies and site data’ section, check the ‘Cookies and site data’ box and press ‘Clear’.

Safari

In the top menu go to ‘Safari’ then ‘Preferences’ and select the ‘Privacy’ tab. Then click ‘Manage website data’ and either click on ‘Remove all’ or select the ones you want to delete and then click ‘Remove’ if you don’t want to delete them all.

How to block cookies

Edge

Click the ‘…’ at the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Cookies and site permissions’ and turn ‘Block third-party cookies’ on.

Chrome

Click the 3 dots in the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings. Then go to ‘Security and privacy’, select ‘Cookies and other site data’ and check the ‘Block third party cookies’ radio button. If you do want to block all cookies you can check the ‘Block all cookies (not recommended)’ option instead. 

Firefox

Click the menu button in the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Privacy and security’, choose either ‘Standard’, ‘Strict’ or ‘Custom’ dependent on which cookies you want to block. 

Safari

Click the menu button in the top right of the toolbar and select ‘Settings’. Then go to ‘Privacy and security’, select ‘Clear data’ under in the ‘Cookies and site data’ section, check the ‘Cookies and site data’ box and press ‘Clear’.

Keyboard shortcuts

Edge, Chrome and Firefox – On a PC you can bring up the menu to delete cookies and other browsing data by pressing the [Ctrl] [Shift] and [Delete] keys together. On a Mac use [Cmd] [Shift] and [Delete] in Chrome and Firefox