COOKIES
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Business Computing Tips
By K&K Fainges kfainges@bigpond.net.au
Love them or hate them, cookies are now part of the internet. But what are
they?
A cookie is like a postit note. The website you visit sends a short note to
your computer to say where you visited on their site, and what you did there.
Then when you come back, your computer sends the note back to them to remind
them what happened last visit. Sort of like the card your doctor keeps on you
to remind him or her what happened last time. It saves time and questions.
The main place this was first used was for 'shopping carts' online. Cookies
would record details of your order and make sure the record was returned to
the store when you checked on the order. So why not store the information on
the shop's computer and leave yours alone? Well because one cookie is tiny, up
to about 4k, but 1000 cookies or a million for the bigger stores starts adding
up. They are using your memory, not theirs.
You can turn cookies off if you are worried about people writing to and
accessing your computer. For Microsoft Explorer users, simply go to
TOOLS=>INTERNET OPTIONS =>PRIVACY and set the level to high. The
procedure is very similar for other programs as well.
So if you have an e-commerce site for your business, consider how people feel
about cookies, and how easy they are to turn off before using them. I'm not
saying don't use them, but be aware of the factors involved.
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Please feel free to pass it on to your friends, just let them know I wrote
it.
Karen Fainges holds a Bachelor of Business, and a Grad. Cert of Vocational
and Educational Training. All this is nice but it's the 14 years of having to
make sales or starve that makes her think she has really learnt what does and
doesn't work. A tutor for all ages, she specialises in helping people get
started on the long road to technology.
"It has to be practical, it has to be cheap, and it has to work."
