A cookie is a term given to describe a type of message that contains an anonymous, a unique information code that is given to the web browser by a web server. The main purpose of the cookie is to identify the user and possibly prepare customized web pages or to save site login information.
There are three different types of cookies
Session Cookies:- These types of cookies are mainly used for online shopping or e-commerce websites and allow you to keep items in your basket when shopping online. They expire when you close your browser.
Permanent Cookies:- These kinds of cookies remains persist even when the browser is closed. They remember your login details and password so you don’t have to type them in every time you use the site. They have an expiration date though and by law, you can’t make them last for more than 6 months.
Third Party Cookies:- These are installed by third parties with the aim of collecting certain information to carry out various researches into behaviour and demographics etc. Websites using third-party cookies are Facebook, Flicker, Google Analytics, Google Maps, Twitter, Youtube etc.
You will be invaded by internet cookies whichever browser you use.
Erase Cookies:- You can erase cookies for this all you need to do is find the folder/file where cookies are stored and delete them. Remember to need to do it regularly.
Block Cookies:- If you need to block your cookies you need to configure your browser to categorically refuse all cookies that try to access your computer. For this, you need to be careful because categorically blocking the cookies means that you are no longer able to shop online.
Set your browser’s alert system:- You can even configure your browser to warn you each time a cookie is sent that will let you decide whether to allow the cookie or not. It is a time- consuming task and you will spend more time refusing and accepting the cookies rather than surfing the web.
Use special software:- You can download the software that can protect you against the cookies. These software programs can be configured to let you change the content of the cookies that apply to you.
Cookies do not act maliciously on a computer system. These are merely text files that can be deleted anytime and cannot be used to spread viruses and they cannot access the hard drive. Any personal information that you give to the website like your credit card information will most likely to be stored in a cookie unless you turned it off. It is only this way cookies will be a threat to privacy.