why does everybody(website) want to drop a cookie on your harddrive?

Question

maybe you don't realise it, but every domain tries to put a cookie on your system.
why is this?
are they like real cookies? sweet on the teeth but bad in the long run? meaning do they take harmful info about you

Answer 1

The Internet is not well designed to handle a session: a series of queries and replies by a user. A cookie is one way of keeping track of who is trying to find out what. Suppose that you have asked Mapquest for a map of the area near the SeaTac airport, and click on the map so as to move the point of view to the north. All the data relating to the original map position could be stored in a cookie, and sent back to their server as part of the request. (I don't know whether they actually do it this way -- this is for illustration.)

Answer 2

Most of the time they are harmless, and often they are nessecary. They let you know your "history" so you can go back and see what pages you visited that day to find a link you liked, or to keep you logged into a site while using it. (Could you imagine having to log in every time you wnated to read a question on here and then again every time you wanted to post an answer.)

Of course they are not always harmless however usually as long as you have the correct updates and only accept first party cookies then you are usually ok.

Answer 3

Cookies can be used for good such as keeping you logged in, being able to save your info for sites that you frequently visit. But there is a bad side: tracking cookies can track surfing patterns for use by marketing firms, cookies(and other internet temp. files) can tell someone what sites you have been on (such as your boss).

Answer 4

Cookies store the information you used on the website onto your computer.

Answer 5

cookies are the file with will alow the system to corporate with internet websites. in access and download

Answer 6

They can track you.