Delete Cookies

What are Cookies?

In their purest form, cookies are tiny files that websites use to enhance the user experience. For example, a cookie can store your user ID and password so you don’t have to key them in each time you visit. A cookie can store additional information as well. For example, if you enter your birth date into a website, a cookie would store that information and each time you visit the website, the website can access the cookie and retrieve the information and serve up your horoscope.

How Do Cookies Affect Me?

Cookies play a huge part of the internet web-surfing experience from serving up personalized information, to helping with shopping (such as Amazon remembering your shipping address each time you order), or even gathering demographic information.

It’s important to understand that cookies take information that you have entered at some point, they aren’t trying to steal the information from you. It’s not like they are entering your PC and searching for credit card numbers, that’s the job of an entirely different monster, spyware. Cookies, however, can affect your privacy because they leave a cookie crumb trail of your web browsing adventures.

What are the Risks of Cookies?

When you visit a website, you leave behind a trail of information such as the name and IP address of your computer, which browser you are using, the operating system of your PC, the URL of the webpage and other little tidbits of information. Cookies make it possible for marketers to create a profile of your browsing habits and direct advertising at you.

For example, DoubleClick is a large network of websites that advertise. Websites that join DoubleClick become advertisers who carry banner advertisements with a cookie. If you click the advertisement, the cookie lands on your PC. The next time you land on a DoubleClick member’s webpage, the cookie communicates, revealing your IP address, computer name etc. As time goes by, the DoubleClick network can build up a profile about your web browsing habits such as which member websites you visited, how often, and more. It will then serve up targeted advertisements based on your profile. For example, if you visit a great deal of quilting websites, you’ll start seeing advertisements for quilting supplies, quilting patterns and related ads.

How to Manually Delete Cookies

Manually deleting cookies is a simple task but one you will find that you must do often. Using Internet Explorer, go to the menu bar and choose Tools and then pick Internet Options. Depending on the version of Internet Explorer you are using, you will have a choice of either Temporary Internet Files or Browser History. For Temporary Internet Files, simply click the button labeled Delete Cookies. For Browser History, click the Delete Button and then choose Delete Cookies.

How to Block Cookies

You can block cookies by adjusting your internet settings. Go to Internet Options and click on the Privacy tab. A sliding bar appears that you can adjust up or down to the setting level of your choice. Setting the level too high, or blocking cookies altogether, might make web browsing a little more difficult, and setting it too low will put you at unnecessary risk. Try a higher setting such as medium-high or high and see if your favorite websites still function comfortably.