Removing all cookies with one click

[deshepherd]

Hi everyone,
I used to be able to go to preferences in Safari, click on manage website data and remove all the cookies &c tracking my browsing with one click of the mouse, Additionally the data would be displayed very quickly.
Now I have to wait ages - many minutes as opposed to seconds - for the data to be displayed and when I click remove all only a small % of them are removed so I have to keep repeating the process for what seems like eternity.
I'm pretty sure this is due to an update and being a cynic I imagine apple is assisting certain interests by making it time consuming to remove cookies and the like.
Can anyone help or enable me to remove that piece of shitty upgrade responsible for this?

 

[honestone]

What Mac OS are you using? And, what version of Safari?

Also, here is the 9/16/16 link from Appel about this:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph21411?locale=en_US

I suspect that is what you are doing, but if you still have issues, that means there is some "malicious" piece of crap on your machine. Not sure if this will help, but you could download, install, and run the excellent freeware program Malwarebyes, which you can get from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

 

[deshepherd]

What Mac OS are you using? And, what version of Safari?

Also, here is the 9/16/16 link from Appel about this:

https://support.apple.com/kb/ph21411?locale=en_US

I suspect that is what you are doing, but if you still have issues, that means there is some "malicious" piece of crap on your machine. Not sure if this will help, but you could download, install, and run the excellent freeware program Malwarebyes, which you can get from here:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

You suspect right. I'm using Yosemite 10.5.5
I'll try the Malware link.and get back to you,thank you.

 

[honestone]

You suspect right. I'm using Yosemite 10.5.5
I'll try the Malware link.and get back to you,thank you.

Cool! Hopefully that works.

Note, though, that the last version of Yosemite was 10.5.6, which would also have a newer version of Safari. You can get the Combo Updater from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/dl754?locale=en_US

Also, are you making backups to an external device? And are you doing regular disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? Both of those tasks are critical.

 

[deshepherd]

You suspect right. I'm using Yosemite 10.5.5
I'll try the Malware link.and get back to you,thank you.

You suspect right. I'm using Yosemite 10.5.5
I'll try the Malware link.and get back to you,thank you.

 

[deshepherd]

The malwarebytes didn't find anything.
Sorry, my Yosemite version is 10.10.5
I don't make backups.
I don't know how to do regular disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs on a mac.

 

[honestone]

The malwarebytes didn't find anything.
Sorry, my Yosemite version is 10.10.5

Too bad. Also, my mistake too, regarding the OS business!

Yes, OS 10.10.5 was the last one for Yosemite. Sometimes, re-applying the Combo Updater for OS 10.10.5 can help. You can get it from here:

https://support.apple.com/kb/dl1832?locale=en_US

It won't hurt, but cannot guarantee it will change things.

What about backups, and disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs? What exact Mac model do you have?

 

[deshepherd]

No backups, and disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs. Don' know how to with a mac and weary of it due to all these ads appearing about cleaning up my mac for free.
I have a 2008 Imac
I have had this problem since August, perhaps too from the end of July 2016. Still think it is connected to updates.
Just tried removing cookies. went like this; 412, then343,then385,209,117,46,32,39,24 gave up!

I also have the box ticked for prompt for each website one ti,e only but I have never had a prompt!

 

[honestone]

First off, it's definitely not good that you are neglecting to do any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, and no backups. There are safe, "clean" ways of doing both, both free and requiring some investment. If you are willing to pursue it (which in this case seems the thing to do), some of us here can offer advice/assistance.

Owning, operating, and maintaining a computer is the same as with an automobile. I certainly do not neglect it for either product (and other "stuff" we have like maintaining our town home).

You actually can start to do some "self" disk cleanup by getting rid of duplicate files/folders, getting rid of prior update files, etc. Typically, when you download an update to a program, it first winds up in your Downloads folder, which is contained within your User folder. Myself, after that happens, I have a folder inside my Documents folder called "Useful Software", and with it, I keep all such updates (remembering to get rid of any prior ones I no longer need). So, I will move such updates from the Downloads folder to the appropriate folder within the one for Useful Applications. (I also have one called "Upgrades", which I use for OS upgrades, and ones for TechTool Pro). The other thing I do on a daily (definitely a few times a day) basis is to permanently remove EMails I designate for deletion. I don't know which EMail programs this does not happen automatically for, but with Outlook 2011, and now Outlook 2016, they do not automatically remove them permanently, and I have to take an additional step (for Outlook 2016, it's simple) to have them permanently removed, and thus save disk space (and keep things clean and less cluttered).

To me, it sounds like you need to 1) do some extensive disk cleanup/maintenance/possibly repairs, 2) make a backup to an external device, 3) Erase and Format your internal drive, 4) do a clean, "virgin" installation of the Mac OS, and 5) "migrate"/copy stuff from the backup to the internal drive. But, it is going to take some effort on your part, along with making at least an investment for an external drive.

 

[deshepherd]

Thank you for taking the time to help me service my mac, but asking me to reinstall Mac OS is like asking me to put a reconditioned engine into my car when the problem is a dirty or wrong air filter.
Can you tell me how to remove updates forJuly and August. Sorry but I am convinced it is to do with updates. I have no malware and even after removing all cookies I still experience this recent problem.

 

[honestone]

Thank you for taking the time to help me service my mac, but asking me to reinstall Mac OS is like asking me to put a reconditioned engine into my car when the problem is a dirty or wrong air filter.
Can you tell me how to remove updates forJuly and August. Sorry but I am convinced it is to do with updates. I have no malware and even after removing all cookies I still experience this recent problem.

Since you have done any disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, you have much bigger problems than a dirty or wrong air filter. In fact, it could be issues with the transmission.

I never said your issues have to do with updates (although if you have any "malicious" software on your Mac (like the infamously bad MacKeeper) and allowed them to update). I was just stating that getting rid of no longer needed updates will clean up stuff, and make things less cluttered. I never said that will cure your problem. If you don't want to do disk cleanup/maintenance/repairs, fine. But that will make it more difficult to cure your issue. This is not as simple as turning a key and voila, things are fixed. For a car, what happens if you do not replace a dirty air filter? Besides decreased performance, decreased gas mileage, etc., things can get worse and worse.

As for prior updates, I have Office 2016, and I use Outlook, Word, and Excel. Back in November, Microsoft issued an update, V15.27 for each of those. After downloading and installing them, I got rid of the previous ones I had for V15.26. Recently, Microsoft did the same, releasing V15.28. So, once again I downloaded and installed them, and got rid of V15.27 (after making sure V15.28 worked fine).

Again, I keep such updates for each of my apps well organized, and thus know where to go to put new ones there, and get rid of old ones. If you have not organized such updates in any way, shape, or form, and as long as you did manual updates yourself, such update files should be in your downloads folder.

 

[deshepherd]

My downloads folder doesn't have any updates. What now?
And how can I tell which Mac sites are bonafide?

 

[honestone]

You'll have to look around for them. I cannot say where they wind up. I just know what happens in just about all cases. Now, it's possible that you changed the location for downloads, via a setting in your browser.

As to which sites are bonafide, for downloading updates, I always go to the company's/developer's site. For example, Titanium software came out with a newer version of Onyx for Sierra the other day. I actually found out about that via the site www.macupdate.com, but I downloaded it form Titanium's site:

http://www.titanium.free.fr/

 

[deshepherd]

If I click on the apple logo and then click on system preferences,app store, I find 1 new update and updates made in the last 30 days, but nothing else.
Would you trust opensource?

 

[honestone]

If I click on the apple logo and then click on system preferences,app store, I find 1 new update and updates made in the last 30 days, but nothing else.
Would you trust opensource?

That only checks for updates regarding 1) Apple software, and 2) non-Apple items you downloaded from the App store. For any other software that you have, you'll have to check for updates yourself. A lot of programs have a "Check For Updates" option under the second menu heading from the left, ie, the name of the program.

I'd only use opensource software if it had already proven to be OK.

 

[deshepherd]

Sorry but I didn't explain myself well. What I meant to say is that I can only find updates made in the last 30 days and need to go further back in time.

 

[honestone]

Sorry but I didn't explain myself well. What I meant to say is that I can only find updates made in the last 30 days and need to go further back in time.

All your "purchases" from the App store should show when you click on the "Purchased" tab. It does for me.

 

[deshepherd]

I never made any purchases. I was referring to updates to safari

 

[honestone]

I never made any purchases. I was referring to updates to safari

When you download from the App Store, Apple consider those as "Purchases", even if they are for free. For example, within my "Purchased" items, it shows the last 4 OS downloads I made (Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, and El Capitan). (Surprisingly, it does not show the ones I made for Sierra).

I just looked at Safari (again, I don't use it), and I did not see a "Check for Updates" choice in any of its menus, so I assume one has to "manually" download updates. For a lot of software that have the "Check for Updates" (or something similar) option, any updates are downloaded and installed automatically (if one actually does to have them downloaded). The "update" file will not be anywhere to be seen in that case. That is why I prefer to download updates on my own, so I have the latest (and usually the prior) version.

Also, I just did a google search for "Latest Version of Safari", and one of the "hits" was this one from Apple:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204416

Note that it says to keep Safari up to date for an earlier macOS, install the latest updates for that macOS. But it looks like you have the latest (and last) version of Yosemite, OS 10.10.5.

 

[deshepherd]

I really appreciate the time you take to reply BUT few of us are as fastidious as you are. The computer is there to serve us and not the other way round.
Once again please let me know how I can uninstall apple updates to see if these created the problem in the first place.