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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.
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.
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.
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.