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Both play critical roles in enhancing your online experience, speeding up web browsing, and personalizing content.
By the end, youll understand how and why to refresh your internet tool with a clean slate.
Cache and cookies: explained
Caching is a vital part of how the internet works.
When you visit a website, you make a request for all of the assets associated with that website.
This has to happen every time you load a webpage up.
However, theres something else lurking in your cache: Cookies.
These are small text files created by websites and stored in your surfing app.
There are two primary types of cookies.
First-party cookies are created by the website youre visiting.
These are used for purposes like keeping you logged in or remembering your shopping cart items.
Then there are third-party cookies, which are created by domains other than the one youre visiting.
Cookies make browsing convenient, allowing sites to immediately serve content relevant to your preferences.
Caching isnt just used locally.
Web servers also use intermediate cache servers to reduce the processing requirements needed to run a website.
When unsuspecting users load the compromised cache, they could be exposed tophishing attemptsormalware.
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It wont stop every web cache poisoning attack, but its a start.
Cookies also enable a wide range of attacks.
There are a lot of benefits from the attackers perspective.
Clearing your cookies is a lot more drastic, but its necessary sometimes.
When you clear your cookies, youre logged out of all of the accounts associated with that web client.
Nobody wants a third party looking over their digital shoulder.
Head on over to our explanation oftargeted ads and why they’re a problem.
Be sure youre only deleting the cookies you want removed.
Also, clearing your cookies wont necessarily delete your browsing history.
These are separate types of data and you’re free to delete one while keeping the other.
