What Are Cookies?
What Are Cookies And What Do They Do?
A cookie is a small text file placed on your computer by a web server that is uniquely yours. According to microsoft.com, it cannot be executed as a code or virus: Information About Cookies On Microsoft.com
What’s The Purpose Of A Cookie?
Cookies are placed on your computer to help notify the web server you are returning. It can be used on shopping sites to help identify where you came from (what web site referred you) as well as to keep track of what you are placing in your shopping cart. This helps you as the consumer pay for all your items at once, rather than one at a time. Cookies are basically a means to help a web site be more efficient.
Cookies can also be used by membership sites to keep track of your password so that you won’t have to log in each time you visit.
Where Are Cookies Stored On My Computer?
On your browser’s task bar, click Tools, Internet Options, General Tab, Settings, then View Files. You’ll see a bunch of files in there, and their should be files named ‘Cookie:default@webaddress.com’ with a .txt extension. This would be the cookie placed on your computer from the website specified in the cookie file name.
What’s In The Cookie?
Double click the cookie file you find and you’ll see a bunch of text and numbers. These are unique to you and are your “identification card” so to speak that can only be seen by the web server that gave you the cookie.
Are Cookies Dangerous To Our Computers?
A cookie is simply a text file. It cannot be used as a virus nor can it gain access to what’s on your hard drive. Cookies are simply a method used for a web site to track their visitors efficiently and a method for you as the user to keep your memberhsip info readily available at each visit, rather than constantly relogging in or refilling personal forms each time.
Netscape.com states: “A cookie file is NOT a secret way for a web server to find out everything about you and what you have on your hard drive. The ONLY way that any private information could be in your cookie file would be if you personally gave that information to a web server in the first place and it decided to put that information into your cookie file for some reason. Also, each cookie is marked with information about what web server it’s for; Netscape Navigator does not send any cookies to any web server they’re not for. There is absolutely no way for a web server to get access to any private information about you or your system through cookies. Also, there is no possible way that a virus could be spread through the use of cookies.”
You can click here to read the entire article: Cookies: what they are and how they work – Netscape.com
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