What exactly is a "cookie" in computer lingo ?
150944
I don't know computer lingo, but I can tell you, that a cookie is a small text file, that a website, that you have visited, will leave on your computer, so they can identify you, when you return..This way, if you use a site, that requires you to use a user name, and a password, you would not have to sign in, everytime you visit that particular site..You must check the box, that says remember me, or you will have to sign in, everytime you go there..There are also "bad" cookies, where a website will drop a cookie on your computer, which could send you adds, and also could follow where you have been in the past, so that they can figure out, what sort of products you prefer, and design an add, just from the browsing, that you do..I am sure there are better ways to describe cookies, but that is the basic premiss, on which they are used for..Hope I helped, in a small way..Click on this link, for more information..\nhttp://www.webopedia.com/TERM/c/cookie.html\nI am also a slow typist, there were no answers, when I started out, to answer your question..I also was detained, when I had to let my dog out..lol
534715
Cookies are not "harmful."  They are flat text files.  The harmful stuff are scripts and programs.  Cookies show up in spy ware scans because they represent an effort by someone on the Internet to catalog or store something from you. Cookies that show up in spy ware scans are normally from known advertisers or marketeers who are marking your information so they can collate into statistics that they sell to others.  Be deleting these files you are telling those marketeers 'NO THANKS.' Don't use me to make money on.\n\nBut not all cookies are bad.  In some cases this may be the fact that you visited the site before and when you go back to the site it responds with "Hi Wendy, welcome back."  How did they know who you are?  Because of a cookie.
886504
Cookies are actually harmless text files that certain web sites will place onto the hard drive of your computer. Your Internet Browser will then load the information into memory while you are visiting their site. The Cookie itself, actually takes up very little space and acts as an identification card for the visiting site. You can compare this to visiting your favorite restaurant where your food server will usually remember certain aspects of how you like your food prepared and what you usually order. This information would obviously be based upon his familiarity of your prior visits. Well Cookies actually act in a similar manner and do not contain viruses as a virus must be executable file.
479170
The cookies are on the local drive on the computer, not on the network. So, in order to see the cookies on his computer, you'd have to install a control program software that lets you access his hard drive. The software has to be installed on both computers (client and server) for it to work.
416211
Cookies on Internet? Simple It's a code recognized by the domain to remmber your computer nextym you visit the site, so you won't have to type the same old lines again ec ur usernames and addrs... Goodluck.. =)
992557
A Cookie is very small text file placed on your hard drive by a Web Page server. It is essentially your identification card, and cannot be executed as code or deliver viruses. It is uniquely yours and can only be read by the server that gave it to you. \n\nHow a Cookie Helps You: ???\nIt saves you time.\n\nThe main purpose of cookies is to identify users and possibly prepare customized Web pages for them. When you enter a Web site using cookies, you may be asked to fill out a form providing such information as your name and interests. This information is packaged into a cookie and sent to your Web browser which stores it for later use. The next time you go to the same Web site, your browser will send the cookie to the Web server. The server can use this information to present you with custom Web pages. So, for example, instead of seeing just a generic welcome page you might see a welcome page with your name on it. \n\nCONCERNED ABOUT SECURITY?\n\nCookies do not act maliciously on computer systems. They are merely text files that can be deleted at any time - they are not plug ins nor are they programs. Cookies cannot be used to spread viruses and they cannot access your hard drive. This does not mean that cookies are not relevant to a user's privacy and anonymity on the Internet. Cookies cannot read your hard drive to find out information about you; however, any personal information that you give to a Web site, including credit card information, will most likely be stored in a cookie unless you have turned off the cookie feature in your browser. In only this way are cookies a threat to privacy. The cookie will only contain information that you freely provide to a Web site.\n\n\nThis Answer was edited 3 Times to provide the most complete and accurate answer
942971
short answer: very little. \n\nmost websites dont really rely on cookies anymore cos users dont like them. temporary files are just that - temporary. so no biggie.
540245
Passwords are NOT stored in cookies. They're stored in a secure location on your hard drive, that you can't normally access unless you know exactly what you're doing. The password files are also encrypted, so even if you found them, you wouldn't be able to read them without special tools.\n\nCookies aren't passwords. They're just login information. Like "keep me logged in". The actual passwords are stored elsewhere.
41511
A browser cookie is a small piece of information sent by a web server to a web browser to be stored for future use.\n\nThe data in the browser cookie will be sent back to the web server whenever the browser reconnects to the web site.\n\nCookies are commonly used to store user preference information, such as web site options. \n\nCookies are also used to store shopping cart contents. The most security relevant use of browser cookies is when they are used to store authentication data, such as user names and passwords.
360130
Cookies are a tracking device and not particularly useful to hackers except to identify you and even then is not very interesting unless you can be scammed into visiting a fake bank site. You can always delete your cookies. \n\nThey have much more powerful techniques to use on you.
604210
cache is a folder in your computer on where the files of the webpages you viewed downloaded. this is also called temporary internet files, but some webpages have scripts that don't download the files into your pc, this is for protection usually of copyright materials..\n\nif you are using wimdows xp it is located at\n\nC:/documents and setting/*some user*/local settings/temporary internet files/\n\nA cookie is just one or more pieces of information stored as text strings on your machine. A Web server sends you a cookie and the browser stores it. The browser then returns the cookie to the server the next time the page is referenced. \n\nThe most common use of a cookie is to store a user ID\ncookie does no harm in computers.
185474
Toool-> Ineternet Options-> Delete Cookies! that's it!
46069
You delete them from your browser. Each browser is different. For IE, you go to the tools menu, select "internet options..." and then "Delete Cookies"
325110
Many websites issue "cookies" when you visit them.  So if you check the "save login info box" it issues you a cookie that has that info on it.  If you clear your cookies from your internet browser, then you will lose that infomation.
994249
i only know about cookies that you eat. they are pieces of doughey stuff with chocolate chips or peanut butter or anything\n\nthe first link is to a cookie as in the one you eat and the second is to the web cookie
62510
cookies are used to store information about a user on their computer.  generally, it's used to track preferences, and allows customization of websites.  it also gets used to keep track of shopping cart contents.  cookies are used in combination with sessions to track this info.\n\ncookies can not travel between domains as this violates security.  if you're seeing the same cookie name on multiple websites, it could be because both sites are using similar application software (that use the same naming conventions).\n\nmore likely, it's a coincidence (especially if you're noticing a common cookie name such as userid).\n\nsome people freak out about cookies "tracking" their behavior, but if everyone turned off cookies, much of the web wouldn't work.  analytics programs require cookies most of the time to track a user through a website.  this might sound like an invasion of a user's privacy, but it helps web site builders build better websites, because it allows them to understand the behavior of users and where the problem spots are on a web site.
559182
A cookie is a text that gets entered into the memory of your browser.(eg :Internet explorer) This is a value of a variable that a website sets. If the lifetime of this value is set to be longer than the time you spend at that site, then this string is saved to file for future reference. \n\nThere are many reasons a given site would wish to use cookies. These range from the ability to personalize information (like on My Yahoo or Excite), or to help with on-line sales/services (like on Amazon Books or eBay), or simply for the purposes of collecting demographic information (like DoubleClick). Cookies also provide programmers with a quick and convenient means of keeping site content fresh and relevant to the user's interests. The newest servers use cookies to help with back-end interaction as well, which can improve the utility of a site by being able to securely store any personal data that the user has shared with a site (to help with quick logins on your favorite sites, for example).