COOKIES

Applets that enable a web site to collect information about each user for later reference (as in finding cookies in the cookie jar). Web Browsers like Netscape Navigator set aside a small amount of space on the user's hard drive to record detected preferences. Many times when you browse a website, your browser checks to see if you have any pre-defined preferences (cookie) for that server if you do it sends the cookie to the server along with the request for a web page. Sometimes cookies are used to collect items of an order as the user places things in a shopping cart and has not yet submitted the full order. A cookie allows WWW customers to fill their orders (shopping carts) and then be billed based upon the cookie payment information. Cookies retain information about a users browsing patterns at a web site. A good place to find out more about cookies is at http://www.illuminatus.com/cookie.fcgi . Also see http://www.doubleclick.net/ and http://www.ipro.com/ . Cookies perform storage on the client side that might otherwise have to be stored in a generic-state or database server on the server side. Cookies can be used to collect information for consumer profile databases. Browsers can be set to refuse cookies. Other ways of controlling cookies or deleting selected cookies can be obtained from http://www.privnet.com/ and http://www.wizvax.net/kevinmca/ . (See also Finger and World Wide Web )