Cookies are what?

Viruses that can erase data from hard drives of users, pop-ups, programs that are used for email spam and Internet advertising ... This list is only the most common misconceptions about what cookies are. This is a misconception of a rather large number of respondents, interviewed in the course of a study on the topic of what are actually cookies. And now it's time to dispel this very amusing myth.

The word "cookies", borrowed from the English cookie, translates as "cookies." But we are not talking about cooking now we are talking. Correctly, simply by analogy with portion cookies, cookies are small fragments of data that were created by a web page or web server on the first visit to the user and stored on his computer as a file. They serve as something like an identification card, which is sent by the web client (browser) to the server on the next attempt to go to the corresponding page of the site.

It seems that everything is clear. The user visited some web resource, information about this has been preserved. But why? What are the cookies for? That's a good question. And here is the answer:

• To authenticate (differentiate) users;
• To remember your personal settings and preferences (for example, design, functionality);
• To monitor the status of the session;
• To maintain statistics on the behavior of the user on the site.

All these goals are quite logical and justified. So, if you visit the site using cookies, the server understands that you are already identified and have access to certain data, services, operations. Or, for example, some resources suggest choosing a design for the user. That is, opening a site with the help of cookies, you will observe the settings saved for you (rather than doing the same actions again).

They are important for tracking the actions of users on the Internet. The collected data forms statistics that are used by various advertising companies, but not to impose their goods on you, but on the contrary, to demonstrate mainly those contextual ads and banners that most closely match your interests.

Cookies are not malicious files, as some think. It's not even programs. They can not delete information from the user's computer. Cookies - this is information about the pages you visit (which can only be tracked by this site, and not by anyone). Indeed, it is because of the assumption of a possible danger of disclosing the secrets of personal life that cookies have caused general concern. However, leaving them or not is just your decision. And we'll talk about how to enable cookies, if you have not already done so, but want to.

They are in any modern web client. Cookies in Mozilla, Opera and other browsers are activated almost identically. To do this, you need to open the "Settings" menu, the "Privacy" tab and find the block with the history. Here you should select the record that your history storage settings will be used. Set the icons next to "Accept cookies from sites" (including from third-party). That's all. Click "Ok" and take advantage of the benefits that cookies give us during surfing on the worldwide network.