OK, all you Microsoft bashers!  Netscape developed cookies. They did so as a means to store "state-related" (a programming term) and other information in a persistent manner. The information in a cookie survives after you disconnect from the remote server. When you connect again, that server can look up the cookie. Cookies work with CGI (Common Gate Interface) programs that reside on the remote server.

When a browser requests a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) from a remote server, the browser first searches a cookies file to see if any of that file's cookies match the URL it's requesting. The browser then sends, as part of the URL request, the remote server information contained in the matching cookie(s). Cookies allow CGI programs to store information on your computer instead of the remote one.

A cookie is a HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) header that consists of a text-only string. Your browser stores this text string in its memory when called upon. This string contains the domain, path, lifetime, and value of a variable. That variable is something a CGI script is looking for--your e-mail address, what site you came from to get to the remote server, what browser you are using, or what operating system you run. A server can get all of this information without cookies, but doing so slows the server down. This is the only information a cookie can contain, unless you fill out a form that explicitly adds other information or the remote server sends you a cookie with information it added--such as a shopping cart ID number. A cookie cannot and does not scan your hard drive.

Still have cookie-phobia? You have some options.

1. Delete your cookies off your hard drive routinely. Just do a search for "cookie," and you'll find where they hole up. This means that eventually, you will have to wait for new cookies to download when you revisit a site.

2. In Windows NT, set your registry such that cookies get stored in the Temporary Internet Files folder or the Temp folder. Then when you shut down your machine, these cookies get nuked. You can do the same thing with the Windows 95 version of DOS. This means that every time you revisit a site, you'll have to get new cookies.

3. Instruct your browser not to accept cookies at all. This may mean manually filling out a form to use a site, or not being allowed into a site at all. In general, cookies save you time and you lose by avoiding them.

4. In MS-Explorer 4.0, you can set your browser to prompt you before accepting cookies. This is probably your best option.

5. In Netscape Communicator, you can "Accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server." This is a good option. You can also set it up to prompt you before accepting cookies.

The downside of not accepting cookies is you defeat the CGI scripts that are supposed to enhance your visit to a site--some services will not work without cookies.
The downside of accepting cookies is you can wind up with a ton of small files taking up room on your drive. If you need to add a drive, visit www.mindconnection.com's hardware section and put up with a couple of cookies that allow you to shop over on a secure server.

Not accepting cookies will not grant you anonymity--the information just takes longer to get. So it is not a privacy issue at all.