What are "cookies"?

A cookie is a very small text file that is put on your hard drive by some web pages to be used by other web pages.

Since the release of Netscape Navigator 2.0, cookies have been used by many web page designers as a convenient means of letting one web page retrieve specific information about what you, the user, did on a previous web page, or which page you came from. Sometimes cookies are used to communicate password and login information from page to page, or to fill a "shopping basket", so that one page can collect information about what you decided to buy on previous pages.

Not really, although some people don't like having anything added to their hard drive without their consent, and others worry about invasion of privacy, cookies are extremely limited in what they can do. Cookies can not scan your hard drive for information. Cookies are just simple, small text files that sit on your hard drive. Any personal information stored in a cookie is limited to whatever you volunteer, such as when you fill out a form on a web page, to request information or buy something online.

Access to the information in your cookie.txt file is very limited as well. If a web page at some web site saves some text to the cookie.txt file on your hard drive, it cannot be accessed by another web page on another website. Specific text in your cookie.txt file can only be accessed by other pages on the website where the cookie file originated. So, only RubberStampMan.com cookies can be read by RubberStampMan.com web pages. Moreover, since cookies are nothing more than a bit of text, they certainly can not spread viruses.

You should expect many online shopping websites to maintain the contents of your "shopping cart" through the use of cookies and RubberStampMan.com does use cookies simply for that purpose, to keep track of the products that are added to your shopping cart until the completion of your order transaction.

Depending on what Internet web browser you're using, you can control whether and when a cookie is placed on your hard drive. Be aware that if you turn cookies off altogether, some websites, including RubberStampMan.com, may not function properly. If you'd like your browser to warn you before a cookie is placed on your hard drive, or to make your web browser refuse cookies altogether, here's how to change the settings in your Internet software:

 

Netscape Navigator 3.01


1. Click the Options menu, then click Network Preferences...
2. Click the Protocols tab.
3. Click to check the box next to Accepting a Cookie. Click OK to save your changes. (Note that with Navigator 3 you cannot turn cookies off.)

Netscape Communicator 4.04 and 4.7

1. Click the Edit menu, then click Preferences...
2. Click the Advanced category.
3. Click to check the box beside Warn me before accepting a cookie. Or,
4. Click the circle beside Disable cookies. (Note that this option may compromise your ability to make purchases online.)
5. Click OK to save your changes.

Internet Explorer 5

1. Click the Tools menu, then click Internet Options.
2. Click the Security tab.
3. If necessary, click Internet to select it as the Web content zone.
4. Click Custom Level. The Security Settings window opens.
5. In the Settings list, scroll to locate Cookies in the list. There are two security items listed for Cookies.
6. Notice the Allow cookies that are stored on your system item. There are three security options for cookies that are stored on your system.
7. If you want to accept cookies without being prompted, click Enable. Or,
8. If you do not want to accept cookies, click Disable. (Note that this option may compromise your ability to make purchases online.) Or,
9. If you want to be prompted to accept cookies, click Prompt.
10. Next, notice the Allow per session cookies that are not stored on your system item. There are three security options for per-session cookies.
11. If you want to accept cookies without being prompted, select Enable. Or,
12. If you do not want to accept cookies, select Disable. (Note that this option may compromise your ability to make purchases online.) Or,
13. If you want to be prompted to accept cookies, select Prompt.
14. Click OK to close the Security Settings window.
15. Click OK to close the Internet Options window.