What are cookies and what do I need to know about them?

Question

My girlfriend keeps talking about cookies on the computer. I don't have the nerve to tell her that I do not have a clue what she is talking about....can some of you wonderful computer geeks tell me what I need to know or do with cookies?

Thanks

Answer 1

Cookies are just small .txt (text) files that by themselves cannot hurt your computer. They are not a virus, but some people consider "tracking" cookies to be an invasion of privacy.

It all depends on one's level of paranoria.

Tracking cookies are mostly "3rd party cookies" from advertising servers. They can track your movements around the web in order to deliver to you customised, targeted advertising.

If you are using Internet Explorer for a browser, you can permanantly block all 3rd party cookies. Go to tools > internet options > privacy > advanced > checkmark "override automatic cookie handling" > third party cookies > tick "block" > ok > ok.

Answer 2

Cookies – History – What they do.

“To enhance your online experience, the makers of Web browsers, such as Netscape Communicator and Internet Explorer, have invented a type of special message that enables a Web site to recognize you when you revisit that site. They thoughtfully store this info, called a cookie, on your very own machine to make your next visit to the same site smoother.
Usually this info can in fact make your next transaction smoother. When you're using an airline reservation site, for example, the site uses cookies to keep the flights you're reserving separate from the ones other users may be reserving at the same time. On the other hand, suppose that you use your credit card to purchase something on a Web site and the site uses a cookie to remember your credit card number. Suppose that you provide this information from a computer at work and the next person to visit that site uses the same computer. That person could, possibly, make purchases on your credit card. Oops.
It may be true that cookies can make your life more convenient. You have to be the judge. Every Web server can offer you cookies. You need to know that this kind of software exists so that if you're concerned about your privacy, you can take steps to protect it.
Cookie files usually have the name cookie associated with them — cookies.txt on Windows and MagicCookie on a Mac, for example. You can delete your cookie files — your browser will create a new, empty one. Modern browsers can tell you about cookies and ask you whether to accept them as servers offer them to you.

Contrary to rumor, cookie files cannot get other information from your hard disk, give you a bad haircut, or otherwise mess up your life. They collect only information that the browser tells them about.
In addition to the cookie file, Internet Explorer keeps a history file of where you've been on the Web. (Look in your Windows folder for a subfolder called History.) If anyone other than you uses the computer you use, you may want to delete its contents after your use, unless you don't care who sees it. Courts have ruled, by the way, that companies own their computers and their contents. You have no "right to privacy" at work, even though most of us find the idea creepy. Companies can eavesdrop on phone calls, read your e-mail (going and coming), and read anything on your computer, including a history file detailing where you've searched. This can be problematic if you've done a little unofficial surfing at lunchtime.”
Source: The Internet for Dummies

Answer 3

Cookies provide a means for a Web server to induce a client to store information about itself which can subsequently be called up by the Web server when required. This might be information which the user has supplied about themselves, their preferences or their requirements via forms input. The oft-cited example is the shopping list which might be added to from time to time.
Holds information on the times and dates you have visited web sites. Other information can also be saved to your hard disk in these text files, including information about online purchases, validation information about you for members-only web sites,
WHat you need to know about cookies is that they willnot harm your computer, the do not fill up your hard drive, but they do hold your personal information that others can access and they can cause you to get alot of pop ups.
Alot of sites request that your computer accepts cookies so to stop anyone from getting your personal information and any chance of getting pop ups is to delete your cookies after every web session.

Answer 4

Cookies are small files that websites placed inside your pc through your browser. These files contain some info and are not executable. When you visit the same website again, it will know it is the person who has visited it before.

For example, if you visit Amazon bookshop website and search for some book titles. When you visit again, you can see all the books that you have searched before on the front page. The Amazon website has given you an ID number and able to retrieve what you have searched before using that ID.

Answer 5

So you want to impress your gf you are in right hands.
Computer cookies are different then what we eat.

A cookie is a text string that is included with Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) requests and responses. Cookies are used to maintain state information as you navigate different pages on a Web site or return to the Web site at a later time.

Cookies can be created by client-side script in a Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) page (for example, by using a script written in Microsoft Visual Basic Scripting Edition or JScript), by Win32 programs that use the Microsoft Win32 Internet functions (InternetSetCookie and InternetGetCookie), or by server-side script (for example, a script written in Visual Basic Scripting Edition in an Active Server Pages [ASP] page, or a Common Gateway Interface [CGI] script).

One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature that you can use to save time. The purpose of a cookie is to tell the Web server that you have returned to a specific Web page. For example, if you personalize Web pages, or register for products or services, a cookie helps the Web page server to recall your specific information. This may be useful to simplify the process of recording your personal information, such as billing addresses, shipping addresses, and so on. When you visit the same Web site, the information you previously provided can be retrieved, so you can easily use the Web site features that you previously chose. For example: • If you previously entered billing or shipping information for a purchase from a Web site, you may be able to use a password to automatically enter your information on an order form instead of having to enter this information again.
• A cookie can indicate that you previously selected one or more areas of interest you want to see each time you visit a Web site. For example, if you want to view only some types of news, you might select some types of news topics to view on a news-related Web site.
You have the ability to enable or disable cookies, or have Internet Explorer prompt you before accepting cookies in Internet Explorer 4 and later. Note that disabling cookies may prevent some Web services from working correctly, and disabling cookies does not make you anonymous or prevent Web sites from tracking your browsing habits. HTTP requests still include information about where you came from (HTTP Referer), your IP address, browser version, operating system, and other information.

If you still need information click the link given below and impress your gf OK?

Hope this will bring you a good luck

[e-mail]

Answer 6

Cookies

Cookies are actually harmless text files that certain web sites will place onto the hard drive of your computer. Your Internet Browser will then load the information into memory while you are visiting their site. The Cookie itself, actually takes up very little space and acts as an identification card for the visiting site. You can compare this to visiting your favorite restaurant where your food server will usually remember certain aspects of how you like your food prepared and what you usually order. This information would obviously be based upon his familiarity of your prior visits. Well Cookies actually act in a similar manner and do not contain viruses as a virus must be executable file. Let us look at some of the ways that Cookies act as an identification card.

Why Sites Use Cookies?

There are numerous reasons why websites would want to use cookies. These range from statistical purposes, such as how many visitors came to the site. This can be further broken down into are they new visitors or actually repeating visitors and how often do they visit. The Website would actually create a unique id for each visitor and store this information into a database.

Cookies can be used to store your personal preferences, referred to as customizations, that you set while navigating their site. For instance, if you visit Yahoo.com, you can sign in to create your very own personal yahoo page where you can customize it according to your news and weather preferences after providing your zip code. You can even change the color of the page layout as well.

Online Shopping sites can use cookies to keep track of items that you add to their shopping carts and quick checkout options. The cookie will keep track of every item that you add to the shopping cart while you continue to browse through different pages or even entirely different sections of their site. Every item you add is stored within the Web site’s database along with a unique ID value that has been assigned to you. Therefore, when you select the check out option, the site automatically knows what items are in your cart by retrieving those selections from its database. This is why sites such as Amazon or eBay will prompt you to enable cookies in case you have disabled them.

Cookies also provide web designers and programmers with a quick and convenient method of keeping their site content fresh and up to date according to the interests of their users. Modern web servers use Cookies for back-end interaction as well, allowing them to securely store any personal data that the user has entered within a site. Therefore, on return visits the user now only has to enter partial information to access their account and purchases can be made quicker as their payment information is on file regarding their previous purchases.

In closing, as Cookies are actually small text files, they really can not damage your computer system or any files on your hard drive. Once again, they cannot transmit viruses as viruses are executable in nature. Some users may just not want to be tracked and this is one of the primary reasons why many people just disable accepting cookies.

Answer 7

Cookies - What they are and how they are used
http://spywarekiller.hyperboards.com/index.php?action=view_topic&topic_id=15

Use one of the Clean up tools to clear out cookies,other junk from your computer and prevent people from tracing your internet surfing
http://securitynewsfromthenet.blogspot.com/2007/03/clean-up-tools-to-prevent-people-from.html


How to block advertisements and tracking cookies permanently
http://securitynewsfromthenet.blogspot.com/2007/03/how-to-block-adversments-and-tracking.html

Answer 8

Well, The answer are all good if you want a plain English answer check out this site

http://www.delete-computer-history.com/delete-cookie-history.html

Answer 9

mmmm....cookies are yummy....you need to know that cookies go with milk....mmmmmm