A cookie is a small file which asks permission to be placed on your computer’s hard drive when you visit some websites. Once you agree, the file is added and the cookie helps analyse web traffic or lets you know when you visit a particular site. Cookies allow web applications to respond to you as an individual. The web application can tailor its operations to your needs, likes and dislikes by gathering and remembering information about your preferences.
Cookies will be automatically removed from your computer when they reach their ‘expiration date’. When a cookie is set, it is given an expiration date – this is the date that your browser will automatically remove it from your computer. When you revisit a website, the expiration date can be updated to maintain the cookie.
Cookies can also be set to be deleted when you end your ‘session’ a website by leaving the website. With some browsers, these cookies will be removed when you restart your browser (close and open it again) or the next time you restart your computer.
You can manually delete any existing cookies stored on your computer – please refer to the help documentation for your browser of choice for more information on deleting cookies, enabling cookies and disabling cookies