Published Jan 18, 2026, 10:30 AM EST
Gavin is the Segment Lead for the Technology Explained, Security, Internet, Streaming, and Entertainment verticals, former co-host on the Really Useful Podcast, and a frequent product reviewer. He has a degree in Contemporary Writing pillaged from the hills of Devon, more than a decade of professional writing experience, and his work has appeared on How-To Geek, Expert Reviews, Trusted Reviews, Online Tech Tips, and Help Desk Geek, among others. Gavin has attended CES, IFA, MWC, and other tech-trade shows to report directly from the floor, racking up hundreds of thousands of steps in the process. He's reviewed more headphones, earbuds, and mechanical keyboards than he cares to remember, and enjoys copious amounts of tea, board games, and football.
Cookie pop-ups suck. I don't know a single person who doesn't think the same, and they get in the way all the time. They waste time, can cause websites to break if you don't answer correctly, and I've even encountered a few "pay to remove the cookies" notifications.
It's just scummy behavior from top to bottom.
Well, you'll be pleased to know that it doesn't have to be that way. I found a super easy-to-use cookie-clicking browser extension that makes the pain go away. And, most importantly, this time-saving cookie-clicking extension rejects the cookies on your behalf.
Why didn't someone tell me about this extension sooner?
Consent-o-Matic is the cookie-denying extension you've longed for
Credit: Gavin Phillips / MakeUseOf
It's nice to find an extension that I feel everyone can universally enjoy. Cookies are super irritating, which is why Consent-o-Matic is so useful.
Once installed, Consent-o-Matic basically takes care of everything, clicking through cookies and GDPR consent forms without you having to move a finger. But what sets Consent-o-Matic apart is that, unlike some similar extensions, it keeps privacy in mind at all times. So, instead of just accepting the cookies to make the pop-up disappear, it actively attempts to reject the window instead.
You'd be surprised at how many cookie extensions claim to solve the problem, but are actually just destroying your privacy. That's another area where Consent-o-Matic differs and has the edge; it's been trained to recognize the main providers of cookies across the web. You may be surprised to know that many websites and services outsource their cookies and associated pop-ups, because it's easy to ensure they comply with the various online data collection regulations (such as GDPR or CCPA).
Customization is key when it comes to cookies
As said, other cookie consent clicker extensions don't actually really care about privacy. I used an extension named I don't care about cookies for a while, but I found that it would accept cookies to make the website work. Over time, that means I ended up with much more tracking than I wanted, and even if you accept that online privacy is difficult, that was too much for me.
That's where Consent-o-Matic is great. If it can't figure out the best option, it "will choose the more privacy-preserving option," and that's exactly what I want from an extension handling cookies. Furthermore, the extension says "all tracking is rejected by default," and there are a whole host of options you can change if you need to adjust the flow of data.
- Preferences and functionality: Allow sites to remember personal choices and information, such as your name and region.
- Performance and analytics: Allow the collection of information that reports on your usage.
- Information storage and access: Relates to the storage of information on your device, such as identifiers, cookies, and so on.
- Content selection, delivery, and reporting: Allow the collection of information to be combined with previously collected information.
- Ad selection, delivery, and reporting: Agree to the collection of information specifically relating to advertising, to show personalized adverts, and to collate the information with other already held information.
- Other purposes: The collection of data that doesn't fit into any of the other categories.
Head down the list and figure out what suits you best. Though for most folks, switching everything off is likely the best option, leaving Consent-O-Matic to decline as much as possible.
Create your own cookie consent clicker rules
You can take customization one step further
Now, Consent-o-Matic will happily deal with most of the major cookie consent providers across the web. There are heaps of these available, but most websites typically use easy, off-the-shelf implementations because they're cheap and easy to use.
In an age when all websites must provide cookie consent and when GDPR, CCPA/CPRA, and other regulations exist, many website owners want the easiest way to comply. And who can blame them; the cookie mess we see is in part driven by these regulations.
But if you do find sites that Consent-o-Matic doesn't work with, you could take a stab at creating your personal cookie consent rules and other forms of data collection. It's great that Consent-o-Matic provides this option and that anyone can use it.
That said, it's not the easiest system to understand. The custom Consent-O-Matic rule page isn't entirely clear about the information you'll need to create a custom rule, and I found it difficult to understand what I was doing. It basically boils down to finding the specific names for the containers and processes the cookie pop-up uses, which you can do with the Inspect Element feature in most browsers (or by opening the Developer Console with F12).
Once you have the right information and the specific containers and so on, you can use Consent-o-Matic's custom settings to decide how the consent process will work, what data you'll share, if you'll immediately reject the pop-up, and so on.
Since Consent-o-Matic is a free and open-source extension, this is really great functionality for those who want to take their cookie blocking to the next level.
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Smash the cookies with Consent-o-Matic
Clawing back your privacy is a long and frustrating process. Each time you think you've figured something out, another privacy problem breaks through the wall.
The solutions don't always feel easy to come by, either. You could switch over to a privacy-focused browser to better protect yourself, but not everyone can do that. Similarly, there are other privacy-protecting browser extensions, but again, some folks may not be able to install them on work computers and so on.
As privacy is very much a layered process, adding in protections where you can is useful and important. Even if it feels like you're not doing anything, those small changes do add up and make you more private overall.