How to Enable Cookies on Your Browser

Guide Note

• Cookie files on your computer, while not edible, can still be considered a treat, as they help streamline and personalize your Internet search habits. This article will show you how to enable cookies on your browser.

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• About Cookies
• How to Enable Cookies on Your Browser
• How to Remove Cookies from Your PC
• Conclusion
• References

Cookie Enabling Tips

1. Cookies are helpful, although some people distrust them.
2. Cookies are small text files.
3. Cookies are placed on your computer by websites.
4. Cookies help websites remember who you are and how they can help you.
5. Each browser has different requirements for enabling cookies.
6. You can view and delete cookies on your computer.

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Introduction

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by Matt Barber)
  Computer cookies are small text files, which are automatically placed on your computer by a website.¹ They aren't good to eat--but they can be good for your time management!

• Cookies contain a unique ID which matches one on the website, allowing the website to save information about you, such as passwords or other pages on the website you've visited. ² When you return to the website, it "remembers" you and can instantly match you up with your password, or personal preferences such as books you like on Amazon.com.² Cookies help to create a personalized Internet experience.²

• This can be an uncomfortable idea for some people, however, and those people may choose to delete cookies on their computer, or block websites from placing them there.¹

About Cookies

• Computer cookies were named after fortune cookies, due to the hidden information contained inside of them.² There are two types of computer cookies: temporary and permanent.²

Temporary Cookies

• Temporary cookies, sometimes called session cookies because they are used for only one session, are stored in your browser's memory rather than your computer hard drive and are deleted from memory as soon as you close your browser.²

Permanent Cookies

• Permanent cookies are placed on your computer's hard drive by the websites you visit, and are permanently kept there unless you manually delete them.²

How Cookies Work

• 

  (Creative Commons photo by Kevin Zollman)
  A cookie is not a program. It is simple text file, containing user information, created by a website and stored on a user's computer.³ When the user visits the website, the cookie allows the website to retrieve information about the user's previous visit to the website.³

• This is how a computer cookie works:

1. You type in a website address such as www.eBay.com. The browser you are using will then send a message to eBay's server, asking it for its home page.³
2. While the browser is "talking" to eBay's server, it is also looking on your computer for any cookie files that eBay has placed there. If it finds any eBay cookie files, it will send the IDs of the files to eBay's server.³
3. Next, eBay will respond to your server in one of two ways:³
   1. If your server did not send any cookies because you did not have any, the server will think that you have not visited eBay before.³
      • -The eBay server will create an ID for you (and keep a matching one) and send it back to your computer in the answer to your server.³
      • -Your computer will store it on your hard disk. This is the cookie data.³
   2. If your server did send some eBay cookie files, because you have visited eBay in the past and it has deposited cookies on your computer, eBay will match the ID of the cookies with the ID of your data stored at eBay.³
      • -Thus loading up your preferences or password automatically (depending on what you have allowed eBay to do in the past).

How to View Your Cookies

• The quickest and easiest way to find all the cookie data on your computer is to use the Find command.⁴ Set it to search all the drives on your computer for cookie.⁴

1. You will probably end up with both files and folders named cookies. This is normal.⁴
2. Individual files will probably be named cookies.txt.⁴

How to Enable Cookies on Your Browser

• Why should you enable cookies on your browser? Computer cookies are a tool website servers use to remember and recognize you as a unique visitor to their website.⁵ This allows websites to deliver personal content based on your preferences and search habits.⁵

• Cookies help computer users shop, chat with one another and participate in forums.⁵ Websites also use cookies to the number of visitors they receive, which helps them place advertisements.⁵

How to Enable Cookies on Mozilla Firefox

1. 

   Firefox Privacy Tab
   Open the Tools menu.⁶
2. Click on Options.⁶
3. Click on the Privacy icon in the left panel.⁶
4. Check the box next to Allow sites to set cookies.⁶
5. Click on OK to save your changes.⁶

How to Enable Cookies on Netscape 7.1

1. Go to the Edit menu.⁶
2. Click on Preferences from the Edit menu.⁶
3. Click on the arrow next to the category, Privacy and Security.⁶
4. Select Cookies.⁶
5. Choose Enable all cookies.⁶
6. Click on OK.⁶

How to Enable Cookies on Explorer 6.0 or newer

1. 

   Internet Explorer Internet Options
   Go to the Tools menu.⁶
2. Click on Internet Options.⁶
3. Click on the tab marked Security.⁶
4. Click on the Custom Level link.⁶
5. Scroll down until you see the Cookies section.⁶
6. Find where it says Allow cookies that are stored on your computer and set it to Enable.⁶
7. Find where it says Allow per-session cookies and set it to Enable.⁶
8. Click OK.⁶

How to Enable Cookies on Netscape

1. Go to the Edit menu.⁶
2. Select Preferences.⁶
3. Go to the Advanced category.⁶
4. Find the Cookies section.⁶
5. Select Accept all Cookies.⁶
6. Click OK.⁶

How to Remove Cookies from Your PC

• Some people may not be comfortable with the idea of servers placing cookies on their computer without their knowledge. If this is the case for you, there is a way to remove the cookie files.⁷

1. Click on My Computer.⁷
2. Double-click the C drive.⁷
3. Double-click the Windows folder.⁷
4. Click Show Files.⁷
5. Scroll down until you see the folder named Temporary Internet Files.⁷
6. Look for the files that are named Cookie.⁷
7. Right click on the file and select Delete.⁷

• Alternately, if you are using Internet Explorer 6.0 or newer as your browser, you can remove your cookies in one easy step by clicking on the Tools menu, choosing Internet Options and clicking on Delete Cookies.⁷

Conclusion

• Computer cookies are small text files which are automatically downloaded onto your computer when you visit certain websites.⁸ Cookies help websites recognize repeat visitors and improve services to those visitors.⁸

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References

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Cookie Central: The Cookie Concept
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6} WiseGeek: What Are Computer Cookies? 
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8} How Stuff Works: How Internet Cookies Work
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3} Computer Security: Cookies: How to Find
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} All About Cookies: Cookies Resource
6. ↑ ^{6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24} Google: Cookies
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 7.7 7.8} RiverSongs: Removing Cookies
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1} All About Cookies: FAQs