How to Clear History, Cookies Cache on Mac (Safari, Chrome, Firefox)

You know it, computers are now widely used in any part of the world. In fact, even kids use it as much as adults. Like humans, a computer does not only perform its functions, it also stores memory.

Through time, your Mac can slow down and you may notice that everything you do appears to be consuming a lot more time than it usually does. You then head over to clear your disk space and it seems like it doesn’t improve its performance at all.

Or you ask for help from a friend and he advises you to just clear history, cookies and cache in your browser but how do you do it? These words, coming out of your friend’s mouth, seem difficult to grasp cause in the first place, you don’t know what all of these mean and how to execute his instructions.

But, hey, no need to panic. In a moment, we will define these terms and provide you a step-by-step guide on how to clear history, cookies, and cache on your Mac if you are using either Safari, Chrome, or Firefox browser.

Also, there’s a bonus at the end of this page, so keep scrolling.

History, Cookies and Cache

It is undeniable that we hear these words all the time but from a techie guy’s perspective, what do these words mean? Here, we are going to simplify the following:

History

As the name implies, history refers to the record of events that happened in the past. In your Mac, history means the same thing and most of what you search in your browser is automatically added to your history.

Cookies

Cookies, on the other hand, are not those edible things you are thinking. Cookies are small files stored on your computer that hold user information specific to a particular website for later use – such as IP address, frequency of your visit to the website, passwords.

For instance, when you visit that same website, the information packaged in the cookies will be sent to the web server by your browser to notify the website of your previous activity.

Cache

Pronounced as “kash”, this refers to the data from a certain website temporarily stored so the next time you visit that website, cached items will be recognized, loading the website a lot faster.

Why Do We Need to Clear History, Cookies & Cache?

Over time, these small data accumulate that we start to notice our Mac slowing down especially in times using the browser and most of the time, this goes unnoticed.

What we need to do is conduct a thorough checkup on our Mac and perhaps, only then we will realize that our browser is full of these small data. With this, we need to clear our browser’s history, cookies, and cache.

Since you want to take good care of your Mac and keep it in its best shape, in the next section, we will teach you how to do an elaborate removal of your history, cookies, and cache in these three browsers: Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. You will see that you are just a few clicks away from achieving it.

How to Clear History, Cookies, and Cache?

Below are simple steps to guide you on how to clear browsing data such as history, cookies, and cache and based on what browser you are using, follow these and save your Mac from slowing down further.

For Safari users:

a.)   First, open your Safari browser.

b.)   On the upper left corner, click History.

c.)   Choose “Clear History…” and in the drop-down menu, select the timeframe you want to clear the history, cookies, and cache.

d.)   Upon clicking Clear History one last time, your history, cookies, and cache are now removed from disk space.

For Chrome users:

a.)   Open your Chrome browser.

b.)   On the upper right corner where your toolbar is, click on the Chrome menu icon (one that shows three dots). Then, hover over More Tools and choose Clear Browsing Data.

c.)   You will be redirected to its browsing data settings. Select the timeframe of the history you want to remove. Also, check the box beside Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.

d.)   Once done, click Clear Data.

For Firefox users:

a.)   Open your Firefox browser.

b.)   On the upper left corner, click on the Firefox menu and select Preferences.

c.)   You will be redirected to the Firefox settings. Hover over Privacy and Security. Scroll down until you reach History.

d.)   Choose “Clear History…” and select the time range you want to clear and check the necessary boxes like Cookies and Cache.

a.)   Click Clear Now and you’re done!

Try out these steps and see for yourself how your Mac improves.

How to Clear System and App Cache on Mac?

Oops… did we just mention earlier that we’ve got a bonus for you?

We thought of including this in this page because we believe that your Mac must have surely piled up cached items without your knowledge through the times you’ve been using it. These have come mostly from your user or app data and your system cache.

And just like your browsing data, these increase in time and hoard a majority of your disk space.

Thankfully, you can clear up your system or user cache by following these easy steps.

a.) Open Finder, select Go (in the menu bar), then click Go to Folder.

b.) Key in ~/Library/Caches and press Enter. It will show you the caches in your system.

c.) Back up the folders if you worry that something bad might happen to your files.

d.) Go into each folder and delete its content.

e.) Empty Trash to complete the removal of your system cache.

How to Clear All Cache in One Click?

So, there’s not just one but two bonuses for you! This time, we will show you how to clear all system cache and browsing data in just one click.

Sounds amazing, right?

All you have to do is look up CleanMyMac X on the internet or simply download the app right here.

By clicking that “Scan” button once, this app does a good job of scanning through your system and removing the unnecessary system junk and cache.

You will surely be amazed at how genuinely fast everything is in this app just like how many users say about it. You save not just space but also time.

Final Words

It’s just easy, right?

This time, let’s see how much space has been unloaded after clearing history, cookies and cache in our browsers.

Before clearing history, cookies, and cache

After clearing history, cookies, and cache

Wow! After doing the clearing, we’ve got 580 MB extra disk space! That’s already a lot!

Indeed, we must review our browser’s activities and periodically clear our browsing data such as history, cookies, and cache to keep our Mac’s functions at optimum.

We must also mind our system cache that can pile up unknowingly so we can make our Mac experience a lot smoother and better.

Trying out Mac cleaner applications like CleanMyMac X is also a good option if you want to save time in clearing up most of your system junk.

Save this page if you want to and refer to these simple steps and you’ll get to where you want to be.

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