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No, we're not talking about the chocolate chip kind. We're talking about the web page kind.
The main purposes of cookies are to identify who you are to a web site. Information can be store in cookies like your user ID and password (so you don't have to enter them every time you go to that site), or a cookie can store information about all of the items that you put into your shopping cart during your last visit to the site.
However, cookies usually work in conjunction with a database on the web server that stores the information about you. This database is secure, and the information about you is not accessible to any other web sites that might snoop into your computer looking at your cookies. In this scenario, a cookie includes only the information about the web site that stored the cookie and a unique ID that is used to look up your record in the database. That database record has your password or what you put into your shopping cart during each of your prior visits. The database could also store your credit card number, your name and billing and shipping addresses, or other information that pertains to your visits to that web site. Data in the database can be collected when you fill out a registration form or place an order. Information like what links you clicked on can also be collected by the web server, tracing your visit to that web site (but not to other web sites) on a page-by-page basis.
Why doesn't the web server just store your information in a cookie and put it on your hard drive? There are two reasons:
There may be too much information to store in a cookie. Cookies are usually small records. In my Cookies folder the record sizes are 67 bytes to 379 bytes, and over two thirds are under 100 bytes.
If the cookie contains all of the data, and the cookie is deleted, the web site looses all of the information it took time to store about you.
Many people object to web sites storing cookies on their computers. If you don't want them, you can turn them off. In Internet Explorer click on Tools, Internet Options, Security, Custom Level, and select what you want to enable or disable. You can even have IE prompt you every time a site tries to place a cookie on your PC. Similar settings are available in Netscape. Remember, if you do block cookies you may not be able to visit web sites that require that cookies be enabled, you can't have the web site recognize you automatically, and you may not be able to make purchases at many e-commerce sites.
Cookies aren't sinister, aren't destructive, can't store personal information about you that you haven't provided, can't grant access to any other information on your hard drive, and can't be read by a web site that didn't store them originally. Give cookies a chance; they can make use of the web more convenient.
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