In today’s digital age, we spend most of our time surfing the internet. However, as we explore the wide landscape of the internet, we frequently leave a trail of virtual breadcrumbs known as cookies.
These data packets monitor our activities on the internet, making people ask questions concerning privacy. Hence, it’s not surprising to find out that many Mac users, including yourself, wonder how to maintain cookies.
Well, this article provides a guide for effective cookie management and control on Mac. So, join us on a journey to explore the world of browser cookies on Mac and unravel the strategies to protect your privacy online.
What Are Browser Cookies
Many of us have most likely visited a website and received a pop-up message or prompt that says “Accept cookies”. However, a lot of us accept these cookies without knowing what they are.
Well, cookies are pieces of data that websites store in order to enhance your browsing experience. Basically, these websites store data such as login status, locations, preferred language, shopping card content, and other temporary information as you navigate through the site.
Therefore, whenever you visit the website, you don’t need to start cracking your brain to remember such reusable information – your browser will do that for you!
Understanding The Types of Browser Cookies
Before we delve into discussing the management of cookies on Mac, it’s important to understand that there are two major types. These include first-party cookies and third-party cookies.
Third-party cookies usually gather details about your online behavior across multiple websites. Thus, they assist advertisers in tracking your interests and serving targeted ads.
Hence, the next time you search for a product online and ads related to that product suddenly begin to pop up everywhere, just know it’s the work of third-party cookies.
Meanwhile, first-party cookies are the ones set by the website you’re currently visiting. They are the ones that store things like your favorite language and items in your shopping cart.
First-party cookies are more like a waiter who remembers your name anytime you visit the restaurant.
Why Managing Cookies is Important
Now, you might ask yourself, “Why should I bother managing cookies?”. After all, they make your online experience more pleasant and seamless, right?
The direct answer to your question is security and privacy. To be more specific, cookies often track our online activities, and not everyone wants that level of scrutiny.
Gladly, several web browsers provide options for us to manage our cookies settings, such as deciding which cookies to accept or enabling/disabling cookies. Consequently, even if you’ve blocked cookies on your Mac and are wondering, “How do I unblock cookies on my Mac?” you can adjust your browser settings accordingly to enjoy a more personalized browsing experience.
Managing & Controlling Cookies: Tips And Tricks
Managing and controlling how you save and accept cookies while browsing the internet is important to limit your chances of security risk. Below are some procedures and methods to ensure your safety on the web by managing your browser cookies.
Deciding What Cookies You Wish To Accept
In a section above, we discussed the two major types of browser cookies. One of the steps to effectively managing and controlling your browser cookies is to decide which kind of cookies you wish to accept.
You can choose to allow all cookies, block all cookies, or only allow certain types of cookies. This section explains how to do that on several browsers on Mac.
On Safari:
1. Click on “Safari” in the menu bar to open your Safari browser
2. Then, select “Preferences” and go to the “Privacy” tab.
3. In the Privacy tab, you can use the “Prevent cross-site tracking” checkbox to enable or disable third-party cookies. Checking the box enables the third-party cookies while unchecking the box disables it.
4. Also, you can use the “Block All Cookies” checkbox to allow or disallow all cookies. Basically, checking the box disallows all cookies while unchecking the allows all cookies.
On Google Chrome:
1. Open Chrome, click on the three vertical dots at the top right corner of the browser and select “Settings” from the displayed options.
2. After doing that, click “Privacy and Security” on the left pane of the page.
3. Under the “Privacy and Security” section, select “Third-party cookies.” Here, you can block or allow third-party cookies or set specific permissions for certain sites.
On Mozilla Firefox:
1. Launch Firefox and click the hamburger menu at the top right corner. Then, select “Options.”
2. On the left pane of the page, click “Privacy & Security.”
3. Among the Browser Privacy options, select “Custom.” Hence, using the Cookies check box and drop-down, you can enable all cookies, block all cookies, or only allow certain types of cookies.
Clearing Your Browser Cookies
Another effective method of managing and controlling browser cookies is by clearing the cookies regularly. The steps below demonstrate how to do that in various browsers on Mac.
On Safari:
1. Click on “Safari” in the menu bar to open your Safari browser
2. Then, select “Preferences” and go to the “Privacy” tab.
3. Following that, select “Manage Website Data.”
4. Now, you can select “Remove All” to clear all your browser cookies. Alternatively, you can select a few websites and click “Remove” to clear the cookies of the selected websites.
On Google Chrome:
1. Open Chrome, click on the three vertical dots at the top right corner of the browser and select “Settings” from the displayed options.
2. After doing that, click “Privacy and Security” on the left pane of the page.
3. Click on “Clear browsing data” under the “Privacy and Security” section in Chrome’s settings.
4. Select your preferred time period. Then, you can check the “Cookies and other site data” box and click “Clear data” to clear cookies.
On Mozilla Firefox:
1. Access Firefox, click the hamburger menu at the top right corner, and select “Options.”
2. Among the options on the left side of the page, click “Privacy & Security.”
3. Now, click the “Clear Data…” button in the “Cookies and Site Data” section. Then, check the appropriate boxes and select “Clear.”
4. You can also select “Manage Data…” in the “Cookies and Site Data” section to clear the cookies of certain websites.
Employ A Cookie Manager
A cookie manager is software that can aid in managing your browser cookies more effectively. They are mostly browser extensions that enable you to view the cookies stored on your computer, clear individual cookies, and block cookies from specific sites.
Some popular cookie managers in Mac include;
1. Cookie Monster
2. Ghostery
3. Privacy Badger
4. uBlock Origin
Note: These cookie managers are available depending on the browser you use.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you’ve made it to the end of this guide! We hope it has shed light on browser cookies on Mac.
In a period when our digital footprints are constantly expanding, managing and controlling our browser cookies is not just a matter of convenience. Rather, it is important for your online privacy and security.
With the tips provided in this article, your online experience just got a whole lot more personalized and secure.