How 'Bout A Cookie?

I, for one, sure love cookies (and who doesn't?) but when it comes to Internet cookies, well, that's a different story. A web-cookie, for those of you that didn't know is a certain file that some sites send to the users' computers. This cookie is what you would call a "remember" file - you know when you log into Yahoo! (for example) and you get prompted if you want your account and password to be stored for that site? Well, if you do accept this, then you get a cookie - a file on your computer that will tell your browser what password "goes" with a certain account. So, basically, a cookie stores info. It can contain passwords, different login credentials, user preferences and a whole lot of other stuff.

They're pretty useful, if you accept them, but sometimes, they can invade one's privacy, because some sites will give you a cookie or two without even asking you. Of course, you can delete them at any time and there are even programs that do this easily.
Cookies, amongst other things, can be used to track a user's online activity (like I said, they can store lots of info) that's why, as according to John Thompson (chief executive at Symantec) sites should prompt users if they want the cookies or not. This security measure may sound a bit harsh, and might get some users prompted a lot, but it's all for the better.

In case you know you're navigating on non-trusted websites, or if you would like none of your personal info to be stored in your computer, you can either 'convince' your browser to accept no cookies or delete them - manually or from the browser's control panel, or with a nice simple program. You may safely download such a program from our site, by clicking on this link.