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Keep Your Web Browser Clean and Safe

Your web browser is where you check email, do banking and use most business apps. A little maintenance keeps it fast and helps protect you from scams.

Clear cookies and cache

Cookies keep you signed in and remember preferences. The cache stores parts of websites to load them faster. Clearing them can fix pages that will not load correctly, but it will also sign you out of most websites, so have your passwords ready.

If only one website is misbehaving, try a private window first (Ctrl + Shift + N in Chrome and Edge on Windows, or Cmd + Shift + N in Safari on a Mac). If it works there, clearing data will probably fix it.

Google Chrome

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete (Windows) or Cmd + Shift + Delete (Mac). You can also go to Settings > Privacy and security > Delete browsing data.
  2. Choose a Time range, such as Last 7 days or All time.
  3. Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
  4. Click Delete data.

Microsoft Edge

  1. Press Ctrl + Shift + Delete, or go to Settings > Privacy, search, and services and find Clear browsing data.
  2. Choose a Time range.
  3. Check Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear now.

Safari (Mac)

  1. In the menu bar, choose Safari > Settings and open the Privacy tab.
  2. Click Manage Website Data.
  3. Remove data for a specific site, or click Remove All.

To clear history and cache together, choose History > Clear History in the menu bar.

Review your extensions

Extensions add features, but some collect data, inject ads or change your search engine.

  • Chrome: go to chrome://extensions. Edge: go to edge://extensions. Safari: Safari > Settings > Extensions.
  • Remove anything you do not recognize or no longer use.
  • Only install extensions from the official store, and only ones you truly need.

Be careful with saved passwords

Browsers can save passwords, which is better than reusing the same password everywhere. But anyone who uses your computer while you are signed in may be able to reach them.

  • Always lock your computer when you step away (Windows + L or Ctrl + Cmd + Q on a Mac).
  • Do not save passwords on shared or public computers.
  • For business accounts, a dedicated password manager is usually a better choice. Ask us about the right option.
  • Turn on multi-factor authentication (MFA) for email and banking.

Keep the browser updated

Browsers update themselves, but the update only finishes when you restart the browser. If you see an Update or Relaunch button near the top right, click it. On a Mac, Safari updates come with macOS updates.

Fake "your PC is infected" pop-ups

Scam pages may suddenly fill the screen with alarms, flashing warnings or a voice saying your computer is infected, often with a phone number to call.

Do not call the number, do not click anything on the page, and never let anyone connect to your computer. Microsoft, Apple and real antivirus companies do not show phone numbers in browser warnings.

  1. Close the tab or browser. If it will not close, press Ctrl + Shift + Esc on Windows (Task Manager) or Cmd + Option + Esc on a Mac (Force Quit) and close the browser there.
  2. When you reopen the browser, do not restore the previous tabs.
  3. If you already called, gave remote access or entered payment details, contact us and your bank right away.

Published on - 01-01-1970 05:30am

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