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Net Gains (Oct 02, 98) |
First of all, before all you food junkies get set to knead the atta, the cookies we are talking about are not the edible kind. These are small pieces of information (basically a text file) stored on your computer by some websites that you visit, for later reference by that website. For instance, to read the New York Times (www.nytimes.com) online, you need to register with them, choosing a username and password that you will need to access any articles on the site. To make things easier for you NYTimes simply sets a cookie, containing your username and password. So the next time you try accessing the NYTimes website, it reads the cookie, recognises your username and password, realises that you are a registered user, and allows you access to the site without making your type in your details again.
If you want to see how a cookie keeps track of the number of times
you read this article on my homepage (http://www.strategist.net/articles/98/cookies.htm),
keep reloading the page in your browser.
The top-of-mind question now is: How safe are cookies?
Cookies set by webpages are harmless and used to remember information
(like the New York Times site), remember your preferences (like
your preferences on the new start page that comes up after you
log out of Hotmail), or to track where you travel over a particular
site. Marketing companies use cookies to show you ads of interest
to you, and avoid repeatedly displaying the same banner ads to
you time and again. Cookies that are set cannot read or delete
your hard disk, so quit worrying. However, if you're paranoid
about your movements on the web being tracked (if you're visiting
sites you should not be visiting), then you can prevent cookies
from being set.
Netscape 3.0 series allows you to be notified when cookies are being set on your computer. You can then either accept or reject them. To change these settings, go tot the Network Preferences in the Options menu, and select protocols to enable the alert.
Netscape 4.0 series is more advanced and in the Advanced Preferences in the Edit menu, you can accept all cookies, selectively accept, or just disable them totally. But the disadvantage of disabling cookies is that you will not be able to access sites that require cookies to be set, but then that's a trade-off you have to make.
Another alternative is to use one of many programs that will automatically
delete cookies after you finish surfing, giving you the best of
both worlds. To find these programs, look for them in the Internet
section of Download.com (www.download.com).
For those who are interested in finding out more details about
cookies, log onto CookieCentral (www.cookiecentral.com) and get
the low-down there.