What are Cookies?

General Disclaimer - Happy Online would like to remind all visitors that they are responsible for their own computer settings - some suggestions may not work on some computers and may result in errors - you should only make changes to your computer if you are comfortable with any consequences that may arise.

When you visit a website a file is sometimes stored on your hard disk called a Cookie. Cookies are files that store information to dynamically produce web pages.

When you visit the same website again it will retrieve the information stored in the Cookie to present you with a customized page.

Some common information that is stored in a Cookie is user entered information. For example if you enter your name then this information can be stored in the Cookie and when you next visit the website the page will automatically detect your name and present you with a personalised page.

The use of Cookies is fundamental to the way some websites work - eg some Ecommerce sites use a Cookie to store information about the products that you wish to buy (Called a shopping basket).

Unfortunately Cookies can also be abused. As a Cookie collects certain information about the Web User it can also build up a picture of the users likes and dislikes - this information can then be used for marketing purposes and therefore some people decide to disable cookies while browsing the Internet.

Disabling Cookies is easy. By selecting the Tools drop down menu in Internet Explorer followed by Internet Options a small window appears. Along the top of this window are some tabs - if you select the Security Tab and then select the Custom Level you will be presented with various security settings - among the available settings is the option to allow cookies to be stored on your computer - here you can choose to Enable, Disable or Prompt whether a Cookie is stored on your computer.

Happy Online 14th July 2003

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