As websites and web apps have grown in complexity, so have their demands: They want access to your webcam to make video calls, they want to know where in the world you are to serve up local information, and so on.

In fact, websites now ask for almost as many permissions as the apps on your phone do, though you might not be as familiar with how to manage them. We'll show you how.

We'll also explain how to restrict the cookies and other data websites can save locally on your laptop. It's up to you whether you let sites track your identity across the web to better personalize the ads you see, but you should know the options that are available.

Control Your Browser Cookies

While access to your laptop's microphone or location is easy enough to understand, you might be less familiar with cookies, the name given to small bits of code that websites deposit on your computer.

Essentially, cookies help sites recognize you when you visit again later, and remember your preferences. They can also be used to build up a profile of you and your online activity, which is why many people prefer to restrict their use, particularly when it comes to 'third-party' cookies—those that can track you across several websites, so advertisers know what you've been looking for on Google and on Amazon.

You get to say whether cookies can be stored on your laptop, and it's really a question of privacy and convenience. You may not want an ad for that one parka you Googled to follow you everywhere, but you also may not want to set your location every time you open up your favorite weather site. Fortunately, most browsers give you pretty granular cookie controls, as detailed below.

Google Chrome Privacy Settings

David Nield via Google Chrome

If Chrome is your browser of choice, click the icon to the left of the address bar on any website to see what it's allowed to do. The icon will usually be a padlock, indicating a secure site, but it might be a different icon, like an "i" symbol.

Choose Site settings from the menu that appears, and you'll be greeted with a long list of access controls. These include location, camera, microphone, notifications, and sound, which dictates whether the site can start blaring out audio without your permission) To quickly put all these options back to their default state, click Reset permissions.