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All about Cookies

Following on from my previous article about the new EU Cookie Law, many will be asking what exactly is a Cookie ?

Cookies are simple text files containing small amounts of information which are downloaded to your device when you visit a website for the first time.

They contain information about your computer and generally do not include any personal data at all. They cannot be used to infect your device with viruses or malware etc.

Each individual Cookie is made up of 4 basic parts:

  1. Website name:  The name of the domain or sub-domain that set the cookie,
  2. Cookie name: The cookie’s name, which is unique to the site that set it.
  3. Expiry date:  Some cookies will expire when you close your browser (called session cookies), other cookies will be automatically deleted once it reaches the expiry date that has been set (called persistent cookies).
  4. A value:  This is the information in the cookie that the website uses to “remember” your previous visit. The value might look something like this:ID=03bld4f3936 9971:LD=en:NR=10 …

 

Some examples of typical cookies (values are not shown for security reasons) – note that we have added the information column to give some explanation,  this is not actually included in the Cookie:

Domain nameCookie NameExpiresInformation
www.scalarenterprises.co.uk__atuvc719 daysThe __atuvc cookie is created and read by the AddThis social sharing site JavaScript on the client side in order to make sure the user sees the updated count if they share a page and return to it before our share count cache is updated. No data from that cookie is sent back to AddThis and removing it when disabling cookies would cause unexpected behavior for users.
.scalarenterprises.co.uk__utma730 daysGoogle Analytics – Tracking service used by a lot of websites
.scalarenterprises.co.uk__utmbLess than one dayGoogle Analytics – Tracking service used by a lot of websites
.scalarenterprises.co.uk__utmcDate not setGoogle Analytics – Tracking service used by a lot of websites
.scalarenterprises.co.uk__utmz182 daysGoogle Analytics – Tracking service used by a lot of websites

 

Each time you return to that website, those Cookies are sent back to the originating website, (or to another website that recognises that cookie in the case of third party cookies). Cookies are useful because they allow a website to recognise a user’s device and selected preferences.  This information can assist in navigating between pages efficiently, remembering your preferences, and generally improving the user experience. They can also help to ensure that adverts you see online are more relevant to you and your interests.

 

This video from Google presents a really good overview and explanation about cookies and how they work:

 

 

There are in actual fact, a number of different types of Cookies but we will leave that for another post.

Hope you found this useful. Feel free to share it using the buttons below if you think it might be of interest to your colleagues or business contacts.

Image credit: rtimages / 123RF Stock Photo

Steve Wood owns and runs Scalar Enterprises based in Portsmouth in Hampshire. He offers a range of services including Web design and Internet marketing to small businesses and SMEs in Hampshire and the surrounding areas.

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