Answer: A cookie is a small text file that a web site can create on your computer to store information. Once the cookie is set, the cookie’s contents can be modified by the web site. The cookie can also be deleted by the web site. Legitimate uses for a cookie include:

• To store your preferences so that you can be presented with customized material such as a particular layout or localized material.
• To temporarily store shopping cart information as you navigate an online store so that the information can be presented to you when you are ready to pay for your purchases.
• To identify you when you return to a web site which has placed the cookie (for example, a web site which requires you to enter a username and password can store your username in a cookie so that you only need to type a password when you return)

Some cookies are used to track people while they browse online. This can be used to target someone with advertisements they are more likely to respond to. Sometimes tracking cookies are used for even more sinister purposes such as those which can be used in connection with spyware and adware programs. This was not the original intention of cookies and web sites which use cookies this way normally use workarounds to the established “cookie rules” to accomplish this task.

Bottom line: Some cookies leave a better taste in your mouth than others.