cookies
What are cookies and how to deal with them?
PC Webopaedia defines a cookie as "a message given to a Web browser
by a Web server." They are used to keep track of web surfers; remember
user preferences on how to load a particular page (i.e. chosen colours
or frames vs no-frames); and store information about items in your online
shopping basket.
The information in a cookie usually includes a name, a value, expiration
date and site that it originates from. This data is gathered in a cookies
file or folder on your hard drive. (Use "find" and search
for "cookie.") In general, cookies are harmless. But many
users like to guard their privacy or just don't like the fact that some
cookies stay on the PC for a very long time.
Dealing with Cookies
There are a variety of ways to foil cookies. If you use Navigator,
go to Edit/Preferences/Advanced to find the cookies options. For IE,
go to View, select Internet Options, then choose the Advanced tab. Scroll
down until you to see the yellow triangle with the exclamation point.
With Navigator, you have two basic options for cookies.
Accept all cookies or ....
Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server.
Disable cookies.
In addition to one of these settings, you can choose to be warned before
you accept a cookie.
The settings are similar with IE except that option 2 is replaced with
"Prompt before accepting cookies." Just remember that if you
disable cookies you'll probably get error messages when you try to shop
online or you won't be able to add items to your basket. Your browser
gets sent an astounding number of cookies, so surfing with the prompt
or warning option active means you'll see a lot of warning notices.
Deleting Cookies
If you're seeking a more permanent solution to cookies, it's possible
to delete cookies yourself or change the file to stop cookies from being
saved. There are also programs that will let you select what cookies
to keep and clear out the rest or just periodically delete all cookies.
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