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| Yes | 85% | 93 votes | Total: 109 votes | |
| No | 15% | 16 votes |
Yes
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Add to FavoritesComputer cookies take up only negligible space in the days that the unit for hard disk storage is GB. However, it provides many convenience when browser the net. For example, you may save your user name or even the password for logging in. Some cookies let you skip the welcome page that is for new members only. Some small on-line flash games even use cookies as a way to save game. In short, cookies also help you to have a more personalized web user experience. Then, why should we delete computer cookies on a regular basis?
The main reason is security.
In fact, when I do a pest scan for my computer, nearly half of the spywares are found in the cookies file. Just in case you don't know, spywares are software that installed in your computer without your permission. This is similar to computer virus. However, instead of doing destruction like virus do, spywares just giving out your personal information like user name and password of different sites. Basically you won't notice their existence unless you have the habit of doing pest scan as I do. Worst still, some spywares can even pass scanning. The best way to keep away these spywares away is deleting computer cookies on regular basis.
Besides a best hiding place for spywares, computer cookies is also a place where stores the target of these spywares. Some spywares are just searching for surfing history, sending back to some companies for marketing purposing. However, this may means that other knows what web page you have browsed, which may also include some porn page that you don't wants other to know. In more serious cases, if you have the bad habit of clicking 'remember me' every time you input your password, the user-name and passwords are stored in the cookies too. They are the favourite target of the spywares.
Even though you don't care privacy at all, cookies can, contradictory, sometimes make your web surfing life annoying, as cookies is also a hiding place for many Adwares. They are small softwares that installed in your computer that allows advertisement to show up without your notice. If you suddenly see pop up windows frequently, it may be Adwares inside your cookies file.
All in all, in terms of Internet security, you should delete computer cookies on a regular basis. In fact, most, if not all, Internet browser allows user to block web sites that force user to use cookies. If you are using Internet Explorer or Firefox, you should find this option in your 'user set up' page, under the 'security' tag. What's more, Firefox, by default, shows a message box to ask if you want to delete cookies when you close all Firefox windows. It is always a good idea to delete computer cookies on a regular basis for a more secured computer.
Learn more about this author, C Yts.
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No
Cookies are a way of extending the user experience so that small amounts of information can be stored on the user's machine and later retrieve for analysis or deletion by a webpage some point after their creation. They are useful in the way that they allow a more personalized user experience. For example, although primitive a page could ask the user for their name, and upon their next visit greet that same user with their name. Such a method of use is not widely used but demonstrates the practical examples of using cookies.
Cookies are very simple files. They are text-based data files and therefore use only a small amount of space. However over time the accumulation of a vast amount of cookies could lead to some hefty folders containing cookies. This amount of data is usually negligible unless you are using a computer will little hard-drive space. In cases whereby the user's computer only has a small amount of hard-drive space, such as 40GB, and a large amount of this space is used for personal files, cookies may be deleted without much notice to the user.
So what differences might a user experience upon the deletion of cookies? Differences such as the browser no longer remembering your login details for social networking and for that matter all sites; you may find that the 'When last visited' feature of a website no longer displays when you last visited, and other information regarding personal details and general information about the user. Other things such as a certain greeting page that the user has already seen may be displayed again and if someone has referred you to a site to which they are affiliated with they would no longer benefit if you were to buy a product.
Deleting cookies may also result in some user annoyance. As mentioned above general login information will be forgotten meaning that the user will have to spend time filling in these forms which they are used to simply bypassing using the cookies on their machine. Also many websites that use advertisements use cookies to monitor what ads you are and are not clicking on. For example if you see an ad three times, the fourth, you aren't going to click on it. Therefore a cookie is placed to ensure the user doesn't keep seeing the same, ineffective, ad over and over. Deleting such a cookie would cause the user to see the ad that they have already seen that doesn't interest them, thus possibly causing irritation.
Cookies - don't delete them unless you really need to!
Learn more about this author, Thomas Walters.
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