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• What is a Cookie?
• What are Cookies used for?
• What are Persistent Cookies?
• What are Session Cookies?
• How can I control or enable which Cookies I want to accept?
• Need help?

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What is a Cookie?

A cookie is a small piece of information that is sent by a web server to be stored on a web browser, so that it can later be read back from that browser the next time this unique visitor returns to that web server. This becomes useful for having the browser remember specific information about this visitor like location of their last visit, time spent, or user preferences (like style sheets). The cookie is a text file that is saved in the browser's directory and is stored in RAM while the browser is running. Also, the cookie may be stored on the computer's hard drive once you log off from that web site or web server.

What are Cookies used for?

One use of cookies is for storing passwords and user IDs for specific web sites. Also, they are used to store preferences of start pages. On sites with personalized viewing, your web browser will be requested to utilize a small amount of space on your computer's hard drive to store these preferences. That way, each time you log on to that web site, your browser will check to see if you have any pre-defined preferences (a cookie) for that unique server. If you do, the browser will send the cookie to the server along with your request for a web page. Microsoft and Netscape use cookies to create personal start pages on their web sites. Common uses for which companies utilize cookies include: on-line ordering systems, site personalization, and web site tracking.

Site personalization is one of the most beneficial uses for cookies. For example, a person comes to the CNN site, but does not want to see any business news. The site allows the person to select this choice as an option. From then on (or until the cookie expires), the person would not see business news when they access the CNN web pages.

Some visitors feel it is an invasion of privacy for a website to track their progress on a site and choose to turn off cookies in their browser. While others only allow cookies to be used on sites they know like banking and investment sites that need to track your personal session variables while navigating within their web pages.

What are Persistent Cookies?

Persistent cookies are stored on your hard drive by a Web Page server for a length of time that is set by the Web server when it passes the cookie to your browser. These cookies are used to store client-side state information between visits to a site.

What are Session Cookies?

Per-session cookies are used to store state information Only Within A Session. These cookies are cached only while a user is visiting the Web server issuing the per-session cookie and Are Deleted from the cache when the user closes the session.

How can I control which Cookies I want to accept?

You can set your browser to accept all cookies or to alert you every time a cookie is offered. Then you can decide whether to accept one or not.

Please do a web search if you do not know how to control cookies in your browser, then follow the online directions or contact the ITD Helpdesk for assistance.