[at-l] OT - Cookies

[bullard@xxxxxxxxxxxx (Jim Bullard)]

At 11:05 AM 1/17/2003 -0500, you wrote:

>Can someone explain computer "cookies" to me?
>I just discovered the "cookie alert" function on my computer. Now,
>when I go to gear sites, my computer asks me if I want them set. Do I?

A 'cookie' is a small file written to the cookie folder in your
browser.  They are a means of identifying the computer that is connecting
to the web site.  For example if you have signed up at Amazon and you go
back to the site you'll get a message on the screen saying something like
"Welcome Jan, here are some suggestions for you".  The file on your folder
told the Amazon site who was accessing their site and their server looked
up your record (books you had bought or looked at on previous visits) then
came up with a list of books on similar topics.  The actual cookie in your
browser cookie file was probably no more than a number.  The rest came from
their server.  Other cookies are only used to identify repeat visitors in
order to quantify site traffic.  The danger with cookies is that they can
be written to do other things like grab your email address to add it to a
spam mailing list or worse.  That's why it's a good idea to have the
"cookie alert" turned on.  It allows you to 'just say no' to sites you
aren't sure you can trust and accept them from sites you do trust.

You can clear your cookie file (in I.E. go to "Tools", "Internet Options",
"Delete Cookies").  That will trash them all (good and bad) in one
shot.  You can tell they are gone the next time you visit Amazon and
there's no greeting, just a request that you 'sign in' in which case you
have to have your user ID and password handy.  Cookies are browser specific
BTW.  If you have both IE and another browser installed on your computer
(Netscape, Mozilla, Opera, etc.) only the browser you used to access the
site that set the cookie will return the information to the site.  If you
set up an Amazon account using IE then went back using Netscape, the Amazon
site wouldn't know you.  If you then signed in using Netscape it would set
a cookie in Netscape's cookie file and they would then recognize you
through that browser.  One trick to get around being asked if you want to
accept a cookie a million times a day is to have two browsers
installed.  Use one for familiar sites where you don't mind having cookies
set and a second browser configured to reject all cookies automatically
that you use to explore new sites.

Saunterer  (Exploring - Hiking.  They are related)