What are digital cookies?
An HTTP cookie (also called a web cookie, Internet cookie, browser cookie, or simply a cookie) is a small piece of data that is sent from a website and stored by the user's web browser on the user's computer as the user browses the Internet. Cookies were developed as a reliable mechanism for websites to remember state-related information (e.g., items added to a shopping cart in an online store) or to record the user's browsing activities (e.g., clicking certain buttons, logging in, or recording pages visited in the past). They can also be used to store any information that the user has previously entered into form fields such as names, addresses, passwords, and credit card numbers.
What's in a cookie?
Each cookie is effectively a small lookup table that contains pairs of (key, data) values, e.g. (first name, Max) (last name, Mustermann). Once the cookie is read by the code on the server or client computer, the data can be retrieved and used to customize the web page.
When are cookies created?
Writing data to a cookie usually occurs when a new web page is loaded. For example, when the Submit button is pressed, the data processing page is responsible for storing the values in a cookie. If the user has selected to disable cookies, the write operation fails, and subsequent sites based on the cookie must either perform a default action or prompt the user to re-enter the information stored in the cookie .
Why are cookies used?
Cookies are a convenient way to transfer information from one session on a website to another or between sessions on related websites without having to load a server with an enormous amount of data storage. Storing data on the server without using cookies would also be problematic, as it would be difficult to retrieve a particular user's information without requiring a login each time the website is visited.
When a large amount of information needs to be stored, a cookie can be used simply as a means of identifying a particular user so that other related information can be looked up in a server-side database. For example, when a user visits a website for the first time, they may select a username stored in the cookie and then enter data such as password, name, address, preferred font size, page layout, and so on. This information is all stored in the database with the username as the key. Then, when the user visits the site again, the server reads the cookie to determine the username and then retrieves all the user information from the database without having to re-enter it.
How long does a cookie last?
The expiration time of a cookie can be set when the cookie is created. Web site providers and advertising companies place an expiration date on cookies. The limited lifetime is an important characteristic of the cookie, because it determines how long the cookie is stored in the browser and how long the user or the browser remains recognizable. So-called session cookies are automatically deleted after the user ends the Internet session - for example, shopping or banking - and closes the browser. Other cookies are programmed to remain in the browser for years - unless they are deleted.
Are cookies harmful?
Cookies are not software programs and can never contain viruses, Trojans or other malicious applications or read data from your computer.
You can decide for yourself whether you want to keep or delete this cookie file.
What are tracking cookies?
Some commercial websites contain embedded advertisements provided by a third-party website. These ads may store a cookie for that third-party website, which contains information fed by that website: Website name, specific products displayed, pages visited, etc. If the user later visits another website with a similar embedded ad from the same third-party website, the advertiser can read the cookie and determine from it some information about the user's browsing history . In this way, ads can be served that target a user's interests, so theoretically there is a greater chance of being relevant to the user. However, many people consider such "tracking cookies" to be an invasion of privacy, as they allow an advertiser to create profiles of users without their consent or knowledge.
