How can I reset my web browser?

Resetting a web browser to its default settings is often a smart choice to try to resolve loading and other issues, especially when other troubleshooting steps, like clearing the browser's cache and data, have not resolved your issue.

Restoring the default settings often improves browser performance, which, in turn, helps our programs run better for students. Your essential information, like bookmarks and passwords, will be saved during the reset process, but other non-essential add-ons and customizations like extensions will be removed.

The process is fairly simple, but if you are a Teacher you may want to check with your IT or Tech department to make sure you are authorized to do so. They may need do do it for you if they manage all browsers for the organization. 

Below are the simple steps to reset some of the most popular web browsers:

• Chrome
• Firefox
• Edge
• Internet Explorer
• Safari

How to Reset Chrome

1. Open Chrome on your computer or other device.
2. In the top-right corner of the browser, click on the 3-dot icon:  
3. Near the bottom of the drop-down menu select Settings.
4. Click Reset settings from the left-side menu, then Restore settings to their original defaults
5. Click the Reset settings button to confirm the reset.

Learn more about this process on the Google Chrome Help Center.

How to Reset Firefox

1. Open Firefox on your computer or other device.
2. In the top-right corner of the browser, click on the 3-line icon:  
3. Near the bottom of the drop-down menu select Help.
4. Select More troubleshooting Information from the Firefox Help menu.
5. In the upper-right, under the heading Give Firefox a tune up, click the Refresh Firefox button.
6. Click the Refresh Firefox button to confirm the reset.

When the process is finished, a window will list your imported information. Click the Finish button. You can then select whether you want Firefox to restore all or some of the windows and tabs you had open. Click the Let's go! button to open Firefox.

Learn more about this process from the Mozilla Support help center...

How to Reset Edge

1. Open Internet Explorer on your computer or other device.
2. In the upper-right corner of the browser, click on the 3-horizontal-dot icon:  ...
3. Click Settings.
4. Under the Settings section on the left, click Reset settings.
5. In the Reset settings section, click Restore settings to their default values.
6. Click the Reset button to confirm the reset and close Microsoft Edge.

When you re-open the browser, will be reset to its default state.

Learn more about resetting Microsoft Edge browser...

How to Reset Internet Explorer

1. Close all open windows and programs.
2. Open Internet Explorer, select Tools > Internet options.
3. Select the Advanced tab.
4. From the Reset Internet Explorer Settings dialog box, select Reset.
5. In the box that says, Are you sure you want to reset all Internet Explorer settings?, select Reset.
6. When the browser finishes resetting the default settings, select Close, and then OK.
7. Restart your PC to apply these changes Internet Explorer,.

Learn more about resetting Internet Explorer from Microsoft Support ...

How to “Reset” Safari

We have "reset" in quotes because Apple no longer has a single reset option in the Safari web browser. To accomplish a reset back to Safari's default settings, you need to clear the browser history, clear the browser cache, and uninstall any extensions.

Clear history on a Mac:

1. Open Safari on your Mac.
2. Click the History menu and select Clear History from the drop-down menu.
3. Choose All History from the Clear menu, and then click the Clear History button.

Clear cache on a Mac:

1. Open Safari on your