How to Selectively Delete Individual Cookies in Vista

Some cookies can give your browser indigestion.

The standard advice for troubleshooting browser-related problems is reboot your computer and delete your cookies. Often, this is enough to get a stalled browser up and running again. When a cookie problem does occur, it is often caused by one particular cookie, and deleting it resolves the issue. You might have other reasons for wanting to delete specific cookies, such as those set by a malicious website you inadvertently visited. Learn how to selectively delete individual cookies on a computer running Windows Vista.

Things You'll Need

• PC running Windows Vista

Instructions

1. Press and hold the "Windows" key on your keyboard and press "E" to open the File Explorer application.

2. Vista stores cookies in two folders and you need to inspect both to find the cookies that you want to delete. One folder is "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies" and the other is "C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Cookies\Low". Replace "USERNAME" in both folders with your Windows username.

3. Copy and paste the first folder name into the address bar of the File Explorer app opened in Step 1. Press "Enter" to bring up a list of your cookie files.

4. Click on the "Name" column to sort the cookies alphabetically; then, search for the ones you want to delete. To erase a cookie, just click on it and then click "Delete." Repeat this process for the second cookie folder mentioned earlier.

Tips & Warnings

• The procedure described in this article differs from the standard method of deleting cookies using the built-in menu system in Windows Vista. Although this method requires only a few clicks, it deletes all of your browser cookies.