
Chrome both lets you delete existing cookies in a single click and choose how future cookies are collected or stored.īanning all cookies makes some websites difficult or impossible to navigate. Internet Explorer, for instance, has a slider that you can adjust for greater or lesser amounts of protection. Every browser gives you a range of options for handling cookies. In Internet Explorer 9, for example, you can find them by clicking “Tools,” then “Internet Options,” then “Privacy.” In Chrome, choose the Chrome menu on the toolbar, then click “Privacy.” Most browsers store cookie settings under the privacy options. Each browser stores cookies in a slightly different location. Popular browsers include Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Because cookies are stored in your web browser, the first step is to open your browser.
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Here’s how to manage your cookies in order to protect your online activity from prying eyes: Third-party tracking cookies can also cause security concerns, since they make it easier for parties you can’t identify to watch where you are going and what you are doing online. A “zombie cookie” is a cookie that recreates itself after being deleted, making zombie cookies tough to manage. For instance, “supercookies” can be a potential security concern, and many browsers offer a way to block them. However, some viruses and malware may be disguised as cookies. Because the data in a cookie doesn’t change when it travels back and forth, it has no way to affect how your computer runs.

Under normal circumstances, cookies cannot transfer viruses or malware to your computer. Authentication cookies track whether a user is logged in, and if so, under what name. Tracking cookies may be used to create long-term records of multiple visits to the same site. Session cookies are used only when a person is actively navigating a website once you leave the site, the session cookie disappears.

Many people find this useful so that they can store passwords on commonly used sites, or simply so they know what they have visited or downloaded in the past.ĭifferent types of cookies keep track of different activities.

That would make it impossible to buy anything online!Ī website might also use cookies to keep a record of your most recent visit or to record your login information. Without cookies, your shopping cart would reset to zero every time you clicked a new link on the site. For example, many online retailers use cookies to keep track of the items in a user’s shopping cart as they explore the site. The purpose of the cookie is to help the website keep track of your visits and activity.
