When Should I Delete Cookies?

The Chinese name of cookies is a small text file, which refers to the data (usually encrypted) that some websites store on the user's local terminal (Client Side) in order to identify the user. It meets RFC6265 standard.

There are a number of reasons why it is called a cookie. Some people say that the cookies may originate from overseas Chinese restaurants before the guests left the restaurant with a "lucky cookie". They all have a small note with a lucky message that makes the customer smile. Describe the personal characteristics of the guests and figure out the future for the guests. Presumably this is personal information. However, many people suspect that this "fortune cookie" may not bring good luck to online users, because it sniffs people's privacy and feels uneasy. If you want to know what information your "biscuits" record on your computer, you may wish to open your computer hard drive

Cookies are often used to identify users. A cookie is a small file that the server leaves on a user's computer. Whenever the same computer requests a page through a browser, that computer sends a cookie. With PHP, you can create and retrieve cookie values. ^[4]

Want to know if the website you visit has written cookies on your hard disk or memory, just follow the steps below to understand and control the cookies of the website you are visiting. ^[5]

By analyzing the format of the cookie, we know that the last two items are its URL path and domain name, respectively. The server recognizes cookies by these two parameters. Under normal circumstances, the URL we enter when browsing a website is its domain name, which needs to go through

1.

Although cookies are not as dangerous as viruses, they still contain some sensitive information: username, computer name, browser used, and website visited. Users don't want this content leaked, especially if it also contains private information.

This is not alarmist.

Given the limitations of cookies and the voice of opponents, there are some alternatives:

Users can change their browser settings to use or disable cookies

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Tools>

Rumor: Cookies spy on your every move in secret

As we know, the content of cookies is stored on the websites you visit. Therefore, unless you take the initiative to give your information to a website, or you have given personal information to this website, cookies cannot contain your personal information.
Most cookies are as simple as session tokens, but sometimes they contain your login credentials, which are usually encrypted or hashed in a format. Because cookies will only be sent back to the same website as when they were generated, even if it contains some private information, this information will not be shared with all websites you visit.

Rumor: Cookies are viruses or spyware

Cookies are just text files. They cannot be executed. You can even find them in hidden folders. But it is surprising that many people think that cookies contain viruses or spyware. The main reason is not only affected by the misunderstanding of the stupid TV media, but also because most anti-spyware software captures tracking cookies during scanning. Why is this? Because cookies are used by advertising websites to track and analyze the websites you visit, most anti-spyware software helps you remove them.
Another rumor is that cookies caused spam and advertisement popups. Advertising providers can use cookies to decide which ads to push to you, but cookies themselves cannot generate ads.

Fact: Cookies are used on almost all websites

Most websites require cookies to be enabled. This is to allow you to create an account that can stay logged in. Therefore, if you disable cookies, most websites will be unusable. But there are some websites. In addition, you may have noticed that some shopping websites embed session logos in hyperlinks (URLs). These websites can still be used when cookies are disabled, but this does not mean that all websites implement this. Features. These cookies are called first-party cookies because they are recorded when you actively visit a website.

Fact: Cookies are used by advertising providers

Because cookies are always sent back to the original site that generated it, cookies from the advertising provider will be sent back to all websites that use this advertising provider. This allows advertising providers to track the websites you visit, so that they can send you targeted ads based on the type of website you visit.
But this does not mean that the advertising provider can read all the cookies you have visited on the website, they can only access their own stored cookies. But because the Javascript code for the ad is embedded in the page, the provider will know that you visited the page. These cookies are called third-party cookies because they are not stored by the page you actually visit, and they can usually be intercepted without any serious problems.
If this type eventually makes you sleepy, then you need to know that in fact, advertising providers can already track the websites you visit based on your IP address, browser version, location, and other factors. So getting rid of tracking cookies only eliminates a small part of the online behavior being tracked. And only a small number of sufficiently large ad providers will track the websites you visit, and it can be said that Google already knows anything you do on the web.

Fact: Deleting cookies will lead to more advertising

If you visit a website infrequently, you may see an in-stream ad blocking the entire page, and it won't close unless you click on it. You might want to figure out how to see these ads and when.
They work like this: Interstitial ads that block the entire page pay high advertising costs, but because most website owners know that such ads are too nasty, they usually limit their frequency by a certain percentage , So the same person doesn't often see such ads. When you see this kind of advertisement once, the advertisement provider stores cookies on your computer to ensure that you will not see this nasty advertisement again for a period of time. If you clear cookies regularly, you may see this in-stream ad more often than others. Of course, this is if you don't have an ad blocker installed.

Fact: disabling cookies without disabling Flash has no effect

Even if you disable browser cookies, advertising providers can still track browsing behavior with Flash cookies. In fact, more than half of popular sites use Flash to track cookies, which means that even if you use your browser's privacy mode, you still cannot prevent them from tracking your behavior.

Fact: Try to disable only third-party cookies

If you are still concerned about the privacy issues caused by cookies, then you can set your browser to accept only first-party cookies so that you can still log in to the websites you visit smoothly. For third-party browsers, just enter the option window, click the "Privacy" tab, and uncheck the "Accept third-party cookies". If this causes any problems, you can leave this option checked, but change the setting to automatically delete cookies when you exit your browser. The settings of other browsers are similar, just go to the options page to find them. According to hidden dangers, establishing a data leakage prevention system is the most thorough and effective way to protect data. Many companies have recognized the importance of data encryption. However, due to the uneven level of data encryption software technology, tight corporate budgets, and many other reasons, many companies have been dragging their feet on data leakage prevention systems. I didn't regret it until the data was really lost.