What are cookies?

There are two types of computer cookies: Temporary cookies, also called session cookies, are stored temporarily in your browser's memory and deleted as soon as you close the browser; Permanent cookies, also called persistent cookies, are stored permanently on your computer's hard drive and, if deleted, will be recreated the next time you visit the sites that placed them there.

Cookies can do everything from monitoring your site visits to remembering important information about your computer and are essential for free e-mail accounts, online forums, and e-commerce sites. In fact, cookies arguably are what make the Internet a great place to be. DeleteCookiesNow.com points out that without cookies, for example, the sites would have no way to track the items that you placed into your virtual shopping cart as you browsed about the site. WiseGeek.com notes that both temporary and permanent computer cookies can be used for many helpful purposes, including automatic registration logon and preserving website preferences. But permanent cookies have resulted in unanticipated and unfortunate consequences.

The Good, the Bad and the Half-Baked

At some point, websites began to use cookies as a means of web profiling, which entails tracking habits of site visitors, when an individual visited, what pages were viewed and how long the visitor stayed. If personal information was offered on any of these visits, name, address and other information was associated with the cookie ID tag, and consequently, the entire profile, according to WiseGeek.com.

Soon, marketers could pass third-party cookies to surfers and subsequently recognize individuals as they traveled the Web, logging comprehensive profiles of people's surfing habits over a period of months and even years.

DeleteCookiesNow.com illustrates the following example: Cookies from one website might track your visits to a different website. For example, most of the ads that you see on websites do not come from the site that you are viewing, but from sites that provide ads to many sites. When the advertising site displays the ad, it can send cookies on your computer. This lets the advertising company track your web usage over a range of sites and profile your browsing habits. In addition, WiseGeek.com states that sophisticated profiling programs sort web users’ demographics such as gender, race, age, income level, political leanings, religious affiliation, physical location, marital status, children, pets and even sexual orientation leading to surreptitious profiling and subsequent public outcry. Cookies can also store seemingly protected information such as passwords.

Cutting the Proverbial Carbs

Not only can cookies compromise privacy, but they can also bog down computers with unnecessary files that affect performance. For these reasons, cookie controls eventually made their way into Windows.

Cookie controls allow computer users to turn cookies off as well as exempt sites where computer cookies are useful. Third-party cookies often have their own controls and encrypted contents so they’re only readable by the site that placed them. DeleteCookiesNow.com recommends taking full advantage of advanced cookie management options, which allow users to accept or reject cookies depending on if they are first-party or third-party cookies and/or a particular domain of the issuer, enable or disable cookies, or have your browser prompt you before accepting cookies. (Note that disabling cookies may prevent some websites from working correctly). For the best computer performance and privacy protection, choose to only allow cookies for the website you are visiting; block or limit cookies from a third-party.

For a quick and convenient way to get rid of computer cookies and improve your PC’s performance, AOL’s Computer Checkup offers the Privacy Protector feature, which helps protect your privacy by scanning and removing traces of Internet browsing history as well as files and programs you have used. Other programs, such as PerfectSpeed and System Mechanic, also offer features that clean up system clutter and help protect your privacy.