2007-09-25 19:03:01 · 4 answers · asked by RAVI K 1 in Computers & Internet ➔ Security
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.
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.
2007-09-25 19:27:58 · answer #1 · answered by G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In the most basic sense, cookies are small pieces of information stored in your computer rather than in a database on a Web server.
This information may include your user name, which pages you visited, and other basic information about your visit. Cookies can be compared to the people at your favorite restaurant or supermarket.
Just as these people remember details about you as you frequent the establishment, cookies allow recognition in cyber space. Under the ideal scenario, when you visit a site that wants to remember you, a cookie is stored on your computer.
The next time you visit the Web site, it finds the cookie and "remembers" you.
2007-09-25 19:14:57 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Cookies are text sent by a server to a web browser and then sent back unchanged by the browser each time it accesses that server.
HTTP cookies are used for authenticating, tracking, and maintaining specific information about users, such as site preferences and the contents of their electronic shopping carts.
The term "cookie" is derived from "magic cookie," a well-known concept in Unix computing which inspired both the idea and the name of HTTP cookies.
Cookies have been of concern for Internet privacy, since they can be used for tracking browsing behavior.
As a result, they have been subject to legislation in various countries such as the United States and in the European Union. Cookies have also been criticised because the identification of users they provide is not always accurate and because they could potentially be used for network attacks. Some alternatives to cookies exist, but each has its own drawbacks.
Cookies are also subject to a number of misconceptions, mostly based on the erroneous notion that they are computer programs. In fact, cookies are simple pieces of data unable to perform any operation by themselves. In particular, they are neither spyware nor viruses, despite the detection of cookies from certain sites by many anti-spyware products.
Most modern browsers allow users to decide whether to accept cookies, but rejection makes some websites unusable. For example, shopping baskets implemented using cookies do not work if cookies are rejected.
good luck.
2007-09-25 20:29:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
you visit my shop on-line
I show you offer "a" - a black widget - and put cookie 'a' on your computer
the next time you visit my shop - My computer sees cookie A
and now shows you the BLUE widget holder - and puts cookie 'b' on yours
the third time = My comp sees A and B
and shows you the green widget cleaner offer
and guess what - you get cookie 'c'
that helps keep track - so you don't see the same offer
time and time again - and I make more sales!
final answer
2007-09-25 19:13:41 · answer #4 · answered by tom4bucs 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋