I know I am ignorant, so apologies in advance.
Can someone tell me, in layman's terms, what computer cookies are?
TIA.
Printable View
I know I am ignorant, so apologies in advance.
Can someone tell me, in layman's terms, what computer cookies are?
TIA.
It's the thing which allows admins to fry your a**. :)
OH computer cookies,,, Hell I thought that you meant them things limeys call biscuits.
B.G. With all due deference to your age, and experience at sea, surely you mean 'Hard Tack'?Quote:
Originally Posted by blackgang
wot you have with your milk , man.
Nope, don't eat weevil biscuits.Quote:
Originally Posted by a. boozer
Yep, in the "computer news" forum,, odd,,, eh? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by blackgang
Thanks.
Sheesh, everyone. :(
(nice Wiki CMN, but I still don't get it.)
There like a little shortcut in your pc to your fav online places so they know who you are.
Sheesh! :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Milkman
Cookies are small bits of data about your preferences, when you last visited or any other data a website might want to retrieve on your next visit. If you remain logged in to any services like Yahoo or gmail or TD your user name and password are saved in cookies. Most major sites save this information encrypted but it is up to the developer of the site to ensure that is is encrypted. This data is saved on your computer in an area dependent on the browser & OS you are using to be retrieved when you load the site or access certain areas of a site.
Cookies can be set to expire at the end of a session (until you close your browser) or for varying lengths of time. Not only authentication data is saved in cookies but many times site preferences (such as language, search filters, currency or any number of things). Cookies can help you when you use a site often but man ysites set cookies that have little effect on your browsing experience but may identify you as a returning user or your most used functions on a site, etc.
BTW ~
vBulletin MD5 encrypts your passowrd twice using a unique seed (or salt) before storing your password in a cookie. It does not save your username in clear text either but rather a unique identifier (uid). The reason you will have a "Posts Since Your Last visit" section if you look at "New Posts" is because your last visit is saved in a cookie. Cookies are cool, But I clear out those that I don't recognize from time to time.
Cookies cannot send data unless you go to the site that set them. They do not reside on system to beam messages across the net, they are simply a way to store data for wesbites that set them to retrieve when you visit.
A very good explanation, thanks very much.
an electronic version of name cards.
They are very tasty, especially in the chocolate format.
I'm hungry, where can I find these cookies on my computer?
Try the coffee holder.
What about tracking cookies? Thay are bad aren't they ?
You can delete the cookies in your internet preferences.
A cookie is a cookie, is a cookie. By design cookies are readable by the domain that set them, Google cannot read yahoo cookies, etc. But webmasters can insert tidbits of code (usually javascript, but there are other methods) from another domain that may set a cookie. now if this embedded code is used by a number of sites the source domain can now read the cookie no matter what site is loading the code. Is that confusing?Quote:
Originally Posted by davearn
Company A provides a marketing service, to use it you must call a script from their servers. This script sets a cookie from the domain company A controls. usually just some kind of uid in the form of "49485D4B6E650E2476AC5BEEF0004CA9" or the like.
Companies B thru Z subscribe to this service. They embed the code in their sites on all or some of their pages.
John Q. Public (unrelated to company Q in any way) may browse to compay B, D, F, H, and so on. Each page load will trigger the embedded code from Company A. He uses the currency exchange on company D, reads news items on company B's site and so on each visit to those pages with the script the marketing company wil read the cookie it wi have a an ID associaed with it, inless you have filled in some kind fo form with Company A this id is not relaetd to you as a person or your "identity." Company A now can knows that people that use companies B, D, F, H and so on tend to NOT use companies A, C, E and so on and that these intrepid "BDFH" browsers also tend to use (or need) Currency exchange and the news of company B.
This could be equated with the neilsen ratings volunteers allowing there Television viewig habits to be monitored, except you didn't volunteer. If you are a company B, D, F & H website user the marketing company knows that there is one more "BDFH user" Not necessarily WHO that user is. Should you shuffle on over to teenage-ninja-bukake-sluts.org during your browsing experience Company A will have no way of knowing (unless, of course, teenage-ninja-bukake-sluts.org happens to subscribe to Company A's service).
So are "Tracking Cookies" bad? Or do they help related or partner sites improve the "user experience?" Again, cookies don't "do" anything they are just small bits of data to be retrieved when you return to the site that set them. Tracking cookies are not spyware although there are detectors that may identify cookies set by a list of domains as "Tracking Cookies" there is really no way to tell the fucntion of a cookie by it's contents. Cookies are not active, they are passive. Sites like forums or "My Home Page" type sites could not function as smoothly with out them.
Frankie, Thanks!Quote:
Originally Posted by friscofrankie
Now, I get it.
Green on the way. Beers on me whenever I make it to your turf.
:beer: