Cookies

Do you accept cookies from strangers?

Just what are COOKIES? When you visit a Web site that supports cookies, the Web server asks your browser if it has a cookie from that site.

At this point one of two things will happen:

If it is the first time you have been to that site, the server sends your browser a cookie. Each cookie is unique and only applies to the site that issued that cookie. At the most basic level a cookie serves to identify you to that site. Cookies can however store individual preferences and records of what you have seen and done at the site.

If you already have a cookie, which will be the case if you are revisiting a site, the cookie file is uploaded to the server. The server reads the cookie and performs some action based upon its contents. A updated cookie is then sent back to the browser. This process of storage and retrieval continues until the cookie reaches an expiry date contained in the cookie.

You could think of cookies as a passport. Each time you visit a cookie enabled site, your passport is checked and stamped.