A cookie is not something you eat when it comes to the Internet. A cookie is a small file which is stored on your computer. When you go to and download some web pages, the web server sends a cookie to your web browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape as part of the header. The cookie is then stored on your machine. When you then connect back to the same website in which the cookie was retrieved from in the first place, the information which was stored in the cookie is sent back to the server where the website is stored.

Cookies contain certain information about your visit to a particular website. A cookie might contain a username of password. All this does not come automatically because in order for a cookie to store information about you or your visit, it has to be sent to the website in the first place.

Let's take Amazon book store for example. When you sign up for an account at Amazon, a cookie is stored on your computer which holds certain credentials about you. I.e your name and possibly your login account id. When you return back to Amazon, the web server can retrieve the information from the cookie on your machine and then use it to say, customize the look of the web page you are viewing.

Another example might be a targeted advertising company or banner agency. The company in question might want to track which information your are accessing on the website. The company could store information about which pages you are viewing or going to. This information could be used by the company to either provide a more effective service for its customers or purely just monitor which adverts are displayed. The banner agency could even collate information about the most popular pages and then sell more expensive advertising solutions to there customers.

So how does a cookie know who you are? Well a cookie has a unique ID so if you go to a website and then return, the website knows that you have been there before. Ideal if you are looking to see how many repeat visitors come back to website.

The cookies which are stored on your computer can only be access by the same website. So for example, if you hop along to Amazon and it creates a cookie on your computer, a competitor to Amazon cannot read the information contained in the cookie. So you can be sure that your privacy is secure.

The overall security of cookies has been questioned time and time again. Ok, so cookies are fairly safe while surfing the web, but because cookies are usually just standard text files on your computer, you can never be sure who is reading them when you are away from your desk.

You need to take care. When you purchase items from the Internet and it envolves passing credit card details across, be sure the company is well known. Dont got buying stuff from Billy Bobs Corner Music Shop. You need to be aware of Internet security and take it seriously.

If you are thinking of developing a website which is going to use cookies, be fair to the people who are going to be reading your website. If you going to setup some system to obtain credit card numbers, ensure that this information is held of the web server and not in cookies. You must respect the privacy of others.

Managing Cookies in Internet Explorer 6



Fig 1 - Find the security settings in Internet Explorer.

If you want to play it safe and remove cookies within Internet Explorer, you can simply click on the Tools menu and then click on Internet Options. Click on the tab titled security and you should see a similar window as that in figure 1 above.



Fig 2 - Click on custom level to reveal security settings.

You then need to click on the button labeled Custom Level. You should then see a window very much like Fig 2 above. If you then move the right hand scroll bar down until you come to the title cookies, you are able to them select Disable. Disabling cookies may not be your best option and you might prefer to select prompt. This will allow for your authorization before a cookie is written to your computer.

I hope this article has expanded a little on the subject of cookies. I am sure overtime cookies will develop into something much larger and of course more secure.