Cookie

A small text file that a web server automatically sends to your computer's hard drive when you browse certain websites. It is sent to collect information that may identify the user, and may obtain contact information, credit card information, personal preferences, or possibly other information.

They have beneficial uses. Cookies may remember your user name and password so you don't have to re-enter them each time you visit. They make personalized sites, such as "My Yahoo", possible. Many companies use cookies to better select display alternatives in order to improve the viewer's browsing experience. They are also used in ordering and re-ordering items over the Internet.

A few believe cookies to be an unwarrented invasion of privacy. For this reason, browsers provide the option to allow or dis-allow cookies.

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