A cookie is a small text string which is often an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from our servers and stored on your computer’s hard drive. When you first visit our website a session cookie is set which is read back on subsequent pages. You can configure your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies or notify you when a cookie is set. Without cookies you always appear to the website a first-time visitor. Cookies are not shared with any third-parties.
Web sites store “cookies” on your computer to keep track of information about your activity on the site. A cookie is a small text file stored by a web site on your computer to keep track of information about your browsing on that site. If you use Microsoft Internet Explorer, your cookies are kept as individual files in a folder named “Cookies”, often found in the “Documents and Settings” folder, If you use Mozilla Firefox, your cookies are stored in a text file named “cookies”, often found in the “Firefox/Profiles” folder. Some of the reasons web sites use cookies are described below:
Customization
Some sites use cookies to record your surfing patterns, and then optimize the information the site subsequently presents. For example, a search site may present you with advertising that reflects your interests based on the keywords you search for.
Distribution
One of the key reasons web sites use cookies is to distribute the information storage. A cookie takes up a small amount of space on an individual computer, but would take up a very large amount of space if they all had to be stored back on a web site’s server.
Security
If a cookie was stored on a web site, then it can be accessed by anyone with access to that web site. However, when the cookie is stored on your computer, then it can’t be accessed by hackers that break into the web site.
How to find and control your cookies
If you are using Safari
1. Click the “Safari” menu, choose “Preferences” Make sure you have a Safari window open and active; you will see the “Safari” menu in the top left of your screen. …
2. Click on the “Privacy” tab. The contents of the Privacy tab screen will now appear.
3. Choose your preferred Cookies setting. …
4. Close the Preferences window.
If you are using Firefox
1. From the Tools menu, select Options. If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible.
2. At the top of the window that appears, click Privacy. To manage cookie settings, from the drop-down menu under “History”, select Use custom settings for history.
If you are using Chrome
1. Clearing cookies from just one site
2. Click Chrome menu on browser toolbar.
3. Select Settings.
4. Click Show advance settings.
5. Click Content settings in Privacy section.
6. In Cookies section, select the site that issued the cookie, then the cookie, and click Remove.
If you are using Internet Explorer
1. From the Tools menu, or the Tools drop-down at the upper right, select Internet Options.
2. If the menu bar is hidden, press Alt to make it visible.
3. To manage cookie settings, select the Privacy tab and click Advanced. To override the automatic cookie settings, click Override automatic cookie handling and then make your selections using the radio buttons.
4. To view or remove individual cookies, select the General tab. Under “Browsing history”, click Settings. Select either View objects or View files.
5. To delete all cookies, under “Browsing history”, click Delete, Check Cookies and then click Delete.