What's a "Cookie?"?

Question

On my computer there are things called "cookies." Please tell me what this is.

Answer 1

When you connect to a web site you are actually connecting to a server. While you are there, the server drops a bit of code into your computer, called cookies. The next time you connect to that server, the server reads the cookies and knows who you are. This enables you to stay logged onto a server, or as you would see, always logged onto Yahoo, for example. If you delete all your cookies, then you would have to type in your user name and password every single time you went to a favorite site, like Yahoo. So we realize that for ease of use, it is best to leave the cookies on your computer as a matter of convenience. However, there are bad cookies too. So periodically it is best to delete all cookies and password saves. But for the most part cookies are bits of data that tells servers who you are so that you don't always have to log on. A necessary evil. There are brokers who track your web surfing habits and sell that info to advertisers. The problem is that there is always a tradeoff between security and ease of use. You can make your computer ultra secure and make your computer experience tedious. So most people pick a middle ground. Cookies from trusted sites are good. They make it easy for us to visit. Bad cookies are bad. So every once in a while delete them all.

Answer 2

A cookie is a piece of information that a website may store on your system when you visit it. They may contain information that will help you access the website, the next time you should visit.

They may be used to remember passwords and such.

Answer 3

a message, or segment of data, containing information about a user, sent by a Web server to a browser and sent back to the server each time the browser requests a Web page.