Cache pronounced "cash" - When we open a website, data (images, text, documents etc.) is automatically downloaded, and stored by the browser. The benefit of downloading and storing of all these things is that if we visit the same website again, it is quickly accessible because everything is already saved, and directly fetched from the cache.
Cache gives a smooth web-surfing experience. It also speeds up the user experience while saving time, bandwidth, and money because the data loads faster if we revisit the site. The browser does not wait, no efforts are required to download all the information again. It can quickly fetch all the images, text, and other data from the cache.
Clearing Cache deletes all these items. If we try to open the same website, it will take a little longer because the browser has to download everything again. But, there is a benefit of it. For example, there are lots of images and videos, which could take the larger space on our computers, laptops, and mobiles. It is a good idea to delete this huge data to clear up the space on our devices.
Cookies - For example, Neeraj goes to a restaurant, and orders some food. The chef writes down all the details on a piece of paper, gives it to Neeraj. Next time, he visits the same restaurant, but does not need to say anything about his food habits because he still has that piece of text. The chef reads the paper, and brings him the food items.
Similarly, cookies are small text files, which are sent to our machine from the website that we visit. The cookies are aware of our interests, habits, name, and other important information. For example, shopping sites can save our personal information, and the items in the shopping cart. If we revisit the same shopping site, no need to enter our information again. Clearing cookies wipes out all the details that are saved by the shopping site.
History - A list of websites that we visit. For example, blogger.com, techntoast.com, microsoft.com etc.
Web Browsing History - https://www.blogger.com
https://www.techntoast.com
https://www.microsoft.com
Other people who have access to our computer, can view the sites that are visited by us if they are not removed from the machine. Clearing Search History is a very important step to hide the sensitive information from the external visitors.
Why should we clear it?
1. If we share our machine with other people. After erasing everything, they cannot see the websites that we have visited, which protects our privacy.
2. Clearing our Internet browser history also provides us more space on the machine.
3. Browsers keep track of our internet activities, which can be targeted by Hackers and viruses. Erase everything in order to get rid of such online tracks.
4. If we experience technical issues while performing online tasks, there are some suggestions - delete cookies, browsing history, and clear cache to "reset" the browser.
There could be multiple searches sitting in our machine. Clearing search does not require efforts, just a few clicks, and we are done.
Clearing Search History in Google Chrome
2. The three dots > History.
3. On the left-hand side, click clear browsing data.
4. A box appears > Select the items (Cookies, Cached images etc.) that we want to delete.
5. Clear data to delete them.
Time range - Clear all items by selecting "All time”, or other options - last 24 hours, last 7 days etc. to delete only specific items in that duration.
Clearing Search History in Firefox
2. Go to Library > History.
3. Select the things to be deleted, and the time range as well.
4. Click OK to delete.
Please refer to the infographics for more clarity:
Clearing Bing Search
2. Click the three dots > Settings.
3. Choose what to clear > Select the things to be removed.
4. Clear to delete the items.
5. Also turn it (Always clear this when I close the browser) on if required.
Clearing Safari Search
2. Clear History.
3. Pop-up menu to select the time frame (last hour, today, or all).
4. Clear.
How to delete my Google activity
1. Sign in to the Google account.
2. Google apps on the right upper corner > Go to Account.
3. Privacy & personalization > Manage your data & personalization > Scroll down.
4. Activity and timeline > My Activity.
5. Click the three dots to delete one item, or the trash can icon if we want to delete all the searches for that particular day. But, it may take a long time if there are lots of items.
6. To delete items in bulk, click Delete activity by on the left-hand side > A popup box appears.
7. Select a date range (Last hour, all time, custom etc.) > Delete.
If we don't want Google to save our activities:
1. Let's go back to Data & personalization > Activity controls.
2. Manage your activity controls > Turn it (Web & App Activity) off.
3. The toggle switch for Web & App Activity becomes grey, which means that Google will not save our searches until we turn it on.
"We have become slaves to the Internet where our browser is a bin. Make it full of searches, then find ways to clear everything."
