Are you afraid of cookies? Fear no more! Cookies are an important part of web development and the proper functioning of sites you may visit and explore. It is true that cookies can be used to divulge information that you would rather not share – but most cookies are harmless. Once you know how cookies work, and what they do, you can better manage the ones that find their way onto your computer. Firstly, take a look at the cookies that are on your computer. Open your web browser and click on ‘Tools->(Internet) Options’ in the menu bar. A box will pop open and you will see a section called ‘Temporary Internet Files’ or ‘Cookies’. In IE you will then click on ‘Settings -> View Files’, in Firefox just click on ‘View Cookies’. Cookie files start with “Cookie:” and end with the url of the website that set the cookie. Some browsers will not show the first part when you view them, but rather just the url of the website. Cookies are often used to remember passwords and to facilitate your usage of parts of a website. For example, when you log into SpywareBiz a cookie is set that we can read at any time that tells us you are logged in. Also, when you tick off a box that says ‘Remember username and password’ it sets a cookie. If you clear your cookies, your browser will no longer pre-fill your username or other information for a given website. There are typically three parts to a cookie: the value of the cookie – or the information that is being stored; the expiration date of the cookie – when it deletes itself; and the path to where it is saved. The programmer needs two functions; one to set the cookie and one to read it. In short, cookies help give you a better experience when surfing the web. If you are concerned about cookies make it a regular habit to monitor them and keep only the ones from trusted sites like SpywareBiz! by Andrea Butterworth