How To Erase Cookies On Internet Explorer | Clear In 30 Seconds

Erase cookies on Internet Explorer through the Delete Browsing History dialog, opened from the Tools menu or with Ctrl+Shift+Delete.

You open a site in Internet Explorer and it loads a page stuck in last month’s sign-in state, assumes you’re someone else, or refuses to load at all. The fix is erasing the stored cookies and cached files that IE saved across sessions. One dialog handles both, and the whole process takes about thirty seconds when you know exactly which checkboxes matter.

Menus That Work: Tools, Safety, Or Internet Options

Internet Explorer offers three different routes to the same cookie-clearing dialog. Pick whichever one your version shows first.

• Tools > Delete Browsing History — The gear icon in the upper-right opens this directly.
• Tools > Safety > Delete Browsing History — One extra click through the Safety menu.
• Tools > Internet Options > General tab > Browsing history > Delete — The longest route, but it also puts you next to other privacy settings you might want.

All three end up at the same Delete Browsing History dialog. Once it’s open, the real work is just picking the right boxes.

Which Checkboxes To Select (And Which To Skip)

The dialog has several checkboxes. You only need two of them to clear cookies, and one checkbox near the top can silently undo your work if you leave it checked.

• Preserve Favorites website data — UNCHECK this box. When it is checked, IE keeps cookie data for any site in your Favorites list, which defeats the point of clearing.
• Cookies and website data — CHECK this box. This is the one that erases login sessions, tracking cookies, and site preferences.
• Temporary Internet Files — CHECK this box too. Stale cached files often cause the display and sign-in problems that sent you looking for the cookie fix in the first place.

Leave the other boxes alone unless you specifically need to clear history, passwords, or form data. Then click Delete at the bottom and close the dialog.

Where Does The Keyboard Shortcut Take You?

Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete on the keyboard and the Delete Browsing History dialog opens immediately, skipping the menu entirely. This is the fastest way into the dialog regardless of your IE version. Once it’s open, follow the same checkbox routine above.

Speed Comparison: Three Ways Into The Dialog

After You Click Delete: The Step That Makes It Stick

Close Internet Explorer completely, then open it again. The cookies and cached files are gone once the browser restarts. If you skip this step, the old data may still appear to be active in some sites. A full restart confirms the cleanup worked and lets new, clean data start building on the next page load.

Common Mistakes That Leave Cookies Behind

Three errors trip up most people who clear cookies in IE and then wonder why nothing changed.

• Leaving Preserve Favorites website data checked. The dialog defaults to keeping this checked. Favorited sites keep their cookies even after you hit Delete, so you stay logged into them. Uncheck it every time.
• Clearing Temporary Internet Files but not Cookies. The two checkboxes are separate. Clearing only the cache leaves the cookies that hold your login sessions and tracking IDs intact. Always check both.
• Not restarting the browser. IE does not fully flush the cookie store until the browser shuts down and reloads. A quick restart is the final step that proves the delete worked.

What Clearing Cookies Actually Does (And Does Not Do)

Erasing cookies signs you out of every site you were logged into and resets site preferences like text size, layout choices, or region settings that some pages store as cookies. Your saved bookmarks, download history, and installed toolbars stay. If you only want to fix one broken site, consider deleting that site’s cookies individually through the Internet Options > General tab > Browsing history > Delete > Files and settings path instead of clearing everything — though the bulk delete is faster and more reliable when you are troubleshooting a problem that spans multiple pages.

With Or Without Cache: When To Clear Just Cookies

Which Versions Of Internet Explorer Does This Cover?

The steps above work the same way on Internet Explorer 8 through 11, which covers every version still in active use. The Delete Browsing History dialog layout barely changed across those versions, only the wording on a few checkboxes shifted slightly. IE 11 calls it Cookies and website data; older versions just say Cookies. Both labels mean the same thing, and the checkbox choices above still apply. Microsoft ended support for Internet Explorer in 2022 and now directs users to Microsoft Edge, which has its own cookie management under Settings > Privacy, search, and services > Clear browsing data.

Fix Order For A Broken Site

When a specific page in IE is not working right and you suspect stored data is the cause, run through these in order. Most problems resolve by step two.

1. Open the broken site in a new tab to rule out a server outage or a one-time glitch.
2. Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete, uncheck Preserve Favorites, check Cookies and Temporary Internet Files, click Delete, and restart IE.
3. Test the site again. If it still fails, the problem is likely something else — an incompatible add-on, a security restriction, or a site that no longer supports IE at all. Try the site in Edge or another modern browser as a final check.