What exactly are cookies, anyway?!

















You might here talk of HTML cookies or web cookies thrown around a lot, but what are they really? The term is derived from the so-called "magic cookie", named by Netscape engineers in the early days of the web. A magic cookie is simply a small packet of data passed to and then from the client's computer; this data was not very meaningful but perhaps comparable to a ticket stub that marked a particular event or transaction. The term was eventually shortened to "cookie" and these data packets were given digital signatures to increase their security.

There are many different uses for cookies. Some cookies can maintain data collected while browsing. For example, a website might use cookies to implement a "shopping cart" that stores selections until checkout. Another common use for cookies is website personalization. Have you ever had your username already filled in for you at a website? Or have you customized the appearance of a site and wondered how the website remembers you? This website server can encode these setting into cookies that they save in temporary internet folders on your computer. These are just a few of the neat ways that cookies are used!

Sometimes cookies can be used for less than honest purposes. Tracking cookies can keep track your browsing history as you surf the web. Do not be alarmed, for cookies cannot be programmed, cannot install anything on your computer, and cannot carry viruses. However, tracking cookies can be used by spyware and raise privacy concerns.

So as you can see, cookies aren't bad things, and in fact, they can be very useful. But because of possibilities such as tracking cookies, it never hurts to delete cookies from your computer every once in a while.

Firefox: ..................................................... Chrome:

Internet Explorer: ........................ Safari:
















While each browser handles things slightly differently, however there is some predictability. There is an options tool, maybe a security tab, and then an option to "Clear Browsing History" (or something similar). Here you will be able to delete cookies and other temporary files that might harm or just slow down your computer.

Having said these things... READ ON! :)