How to Clear Google Chrome Cache, Cookies, and Browsing History
Google Chrome comes with a high built-in feature that lets you store your browsing history, cache, and cookies to optimize surfing the internet’s interpretation and usability.
This means if you’re privacy-minded or like to operate a secured ship, vacating old browser data is a good habit to do regularly.
You can shortly approach sites you’ve visited before because the web content is cached and swift to load.
Websites store cookies on your PC containing site preferences and login status information.
Every site you open is stored in your browser history unless you’re using private browsing mode.
Delete Google Chrome Cache, Cookies, and Browsing History
To clear the browsing history, cache, and cookies stored in your Google Chrome, all you need is to launch the Chrome browser, select the three-dotted option on the right panel, and select Settings.
Once it opens, select “Privacy & Security” on the sidebar from the left, then click “Clear browsing history” on the right.
Now you’d need to select the time range for clearing your browsing data. Options available are; Last 24 hours, Last 7 days, Last 4 weeks, or All time.
Please also note that there are two tabs on the panel: Basic and Advanced.
The Basic tab lets you clear the Browsing history, Cookies, site data, and Cached images and files.
The Advanced tab has some extra options you can choose to remove.
Click the tab you need and then place a checkmark in what you need to clear and uncheck what you don’t need to clear.
Then, click Clear data.
Disable the Cache Using the Developer Tools
If you don’t want the cache stored on your PC, you can turn this option off in the Developer Tools.
To disable the caches stores option, all you need is to open Google Chrome on your PC.
Click the three-dotted option and select “More tools > Developer tools.”
Once the Developer tools open, click the arrow and select the Network tab.
Place a checkmark in the Disable cache box, then click the X in the upper-right corner of the section to save the changes.
Clear Chrome Cache Using a Hidden Method
There are three possibilities on the Reload this page button when the Developer Tools section is open.
Right-click the “Reload this page” button and select one of the following options:
- Normal Reload – This works the same as the Reload this page button does when the Developer Tools section isn’t open. Google Chrome reloads the web page through the cached data. If available, the browser also corresponds to the website’s server for updated files and fetches them.
- Hard Reload – This replenishes the page without utilizing any cached data. All files for the web page are saved again. You can also do so through a quick way, press Ctrl + Shift + R (Windows) or Shift + Command + R (macOS) on your keyboard to run a hard reload.
- Empty Cache and Hard Reload – This is the most suitable option for clearing the cache and reloading the web page, downloading all the updated files. Once you do so, you’ll have a freshly loaded web page, and the browser caches the data again, presuming you haven’t turned off the cache in the Developer Tools. This option only impacts the web page on the current tab. Web pages that are open on other tabs will not be affected.
Clear Chrome Cookies and Cache For the Current Site Only
You can clear caches and cookies for a particular website, which is helpful if you don’t want to get signed out of other sites.
To clear cache for a particular site, visit the website for which you need to clear the cache and click the lock icon on the left side of the address bar. Select Site Settings.
The Privacy and security section in a new window will open. Under Usage, click Clear data.
A confirmation panel will arrive; click “clear” to clear the cache and cookies for the current site.
Refresh the website to start loading fresh data for the site. Google Chrome cache and history should be cleansed, and now you’re all set to go with fresh web pages.
