A cookie is a set of data that a website server gives to a browser the first time the user visits the site, that is updated with each return visit. The remote server saves the information the cookie contains about the user and the user's browser does the same, as a text file stored in the Netscape or Explorer system folder. Depending on the type of cookie used and the browser's settings, the browser may accept or not accept the cookie, and may save the cookie for either a short time or a long time. Web servers can use cookies to keep track of how many times you've visited and when, and what sort of information you've been surfing for on their site. They can even use cookies to pass that information on to other web servers, such as advertisement servers. On the positive side, cookies can be used to store your own web site configuration, to remember items placed in your "shopping cart" at an online shopping site, or to store account and password information for subscription sites. Cookie data is never executed as code, so it can't contain viruses. Also, a cookie cannot be used to extract data from your system. Cookies are usually set to expire after a predetermined amount of time and are usually saved in memory until the browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved to disk if their expire time has not been reached. There are also downloadable applications that eat cookies such as Cookie Killers, Cookie Monster (Mac), and Kill Cookie Batch File (PC). For maximum privacy, allow return of cookies to trusted sites only.
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