Cookies - A Beginner's Guide

Published in PC Support on Wednesday, 01 July 2009  |   Subscribe to rss feed for Cookies - A Beginner's Guide (rss logo graphic) Post RSS

What Are Cookies?

Cookies are small text files that are stored on a person’s computer.
They hold a modest amount of data specific to a particular person / website. They can be accessed either by the website or the person’s computer.
Cookies allow a website to deliver a page tailored to a particular person, or the page itself can carry information from one visit to the website (or related site) to the next.
Each cookie contains pairs of (key, data) values - for example (firstname, John) (lastname, Smith).
Once a cookie has been read by the website, the information may be used to customise the web page appropriately.

Why are Cookies Used?

Cookies are conveniently hold information from one session on a website to another, or between related websites.

Because a cookie contains a limited amount of information, a cookie can also be used as a means to identify a given person so that further related information can be looked up on a server-side database.
For example the first time a user visits a website they may choose a username which is then stored in the cookie. Any info provided later such as password, name, address, preferred font size etc. would be stored on the website database - using the username as a key.

When the site is next visited the cookie is read to find the username, and this allows the website to retrieve the person’s details / information.

Are Cookies Enabled in my Browser?

To check whether your browser is set to allow cookies, visit the Cookie Checker. This website also has useful pages called: 'Enabling cookies' and 'Deleting cookies'.

Who Can Access Cookies?

By default cookies are visible to all pages in their website. If a cookie is set by webfertile.co.uk – it is normally only readable by webfertile.co.uk.

You can  also access the cookies on your computer. They are kept together in a folder - althought the exact location of your cookies folder depends on your browser (e.g. IE6 / IE7 / Safari / Firefox) and  operating system (e.g. Win XP / Win Vista / Apple Mac).

Running a search on your system for 'cookies' should bring up the details.
 

All resources written by The WebFertile Team.

Whatever your business needs, one of our highly trained small business development experts is sure to be able to help.

 





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cookies, pc tuition, pc support, internet, website design