▾Cookies: do you know what do they serve for?
Surely you have agreed to the use of cookies on many websites. But do you know what they are used for and on what principle they work? We wrote basic information about cookies in one article.
No matter which website you visit, you will almost always come across an information bar stating that the site uses cookies to analyze number of visits, personalize advertisements or provide services. Without much thinking, you confirm your consent and continue browsing the Internet. But do you know what cookies are, what they are actually used for and if they bring some potential risks? Let's take a closer look at cookies and see how to turn them off or on if necessary.
Cookies have been used successfully since 1994
Although cookies became known to the general public in 2011, when the European Union looked closely at their use, they have been operating successfully in the world of the Internet for many years. Cookies have been a standard feature of the HTTP protocol since 1994, when the once popular Mosaic Netscape web browser began working with them.
The author of the cookies is considered to be an employee of Netscape Lou Montulli, who tried to find a way to achieve the memorization of user information without storing data directly on the server. Due to the effectiveness and benefits of such a solution, cookies began to be used in all browsers.
Cookies - small text files that are stored in memory
Under the term cookies, we can imagine small text files (the size of several KB) that the visited website sends to the Internet browser. If cookies are enabled, the browser stores them in the memory of your computer or mobile device. Each time you visit the same website, the browser sends the saved data back to the server and allows you to work with the stored information. The current internet browsers have cookies implemented in the SQLite database, where one record always represents one cookie. These include information about which site they come from and how long they are stored in memory.
Cookies make our lives easier
Although cookies are used, among other things, to personalize advertisements or to monitor website number of visits, their use makes it much easier for us to work on the Internet. You will be convinced of this when you delete all stored cookies from the browser once. You will be logged out on all portals suddenly, so you will have to enter your login details and passwords again. In the same way, the last viewed goods will disappear from your favorite e-shops and the previously filled shopping cart will be empty again. In short, all previously visited websites will lose the information they need to provide you with relevant content.
Cookies are also used to personalize advertisements
Although the improving user friendliness is an important task of cookies, they are also used for other purposes. The website operators use them extensively, especially for personalizing ads and tracking users. They can easily track what exactly the anonymous user viewed on the page and what he clicked on. Search information is then transferred between different sites. Have you ever searched the Internet for new laptops and they immediately started appearing in social networking advertisements or other websites you visited? This happened due to cookies, which have stored information about your interests and about what you are looking for most often on the Internet.
How to turn cookies on and off
If for any reason you are bothered by the storage of cookies on your computer, you have the option of switching them off and on as needed, as well as deleting them. So how do you switch on or off the function of cookie storage? It always depends on which internet browser you use. For example, in Chrome you can access the cookie settings via the Settings - Advanced - Web Settings - Cookies buttons. You can also access the settings immediately by entering the address chrome://settings/content/cookies in the address line. Here you can permit or forbid the storage of the mentioned data, enable the blocking of third-party cookies, display all stored cookies or delete them individually or completely.
Use anonymous browser mode
If you do not want cookies to be stored in the memory of your computer or mobile phone when you visit a specific website, we recommend using anonymous or also incognito mode. In incognito mode, the cookies are enabled, but at the moment you close the browser window, they are deleted immediately. During the searching in incognito mode, you don't have to worry about information about the sites you visit being used to personalize the advertisements. For example, if you search for a new laptop in incognito mode, it certainly won't appear on social networks or other advertising spaces.
Cookies are useful and make it easier for us to work on the Internet. Who would like to constantly enter login details on popular portals or still search for already discovered products in online stores? There are situations where storing cookies can be annoying. The simplest solution is to use the anonymous mode, thanks to which temporary files are lost when we close the browser window. We will not leave any traces behind.Internet of Things (IoT) and its use at home
The Internet of Things is one of the current phenomena in the field of IT and the Internet. Read how to use the Internet of Things (IoT) in your home and what to look out when you are using it.
How to make or repair a network cable
If you want to connect your computer to the Internet or your home network with a cable, you have two options. You can either buy an already finished cable with connectors in the required length in the store, or you can make it yourself. The home production of the network cable is necessary especially if you need to pass it through a narrow hole into which the connector doesn't fit. You usually have to install it after passing the cable through a small hole. Read how to make such a cable and how to repair that current one.
The difference between a cheap and an expensive WiFi router
A purchase of a router is waiting for you, but when you look at the offer, you only see boxes that differ in price and appearance? In that case, a basic overview of important parameters can not only save you a lot of money, but also significantly speed up the Internet.
How to choose a switch - what parameters to focus on
The use of switches (network switches) is currently the prerogative of company networks in particular, but they are also used in home networks. In the market you will find switches in various price categories, which differ in parameters and additional functions. What to focus on and how to choose a new switch? This is the issue to what we will apply in the following lines.
Why does the internet speed fluctuate?
When you have a fast connection, but there are significant speed fluctuations, something is probably wrong. It is a question, where to start looking. Basically, you should first verify if the connection really offers the speed which you have agreed with the provider in the contract. The problems can also be caused by a large number of running applications, it is necessary to check it and possibly leave only those one that you are currently using. Then check the aggregation and after that the router.