A cookie, in computer terms is a small file that is placed on your computer when you visit a website. Generally speaking, they are harmless and are used by the website to store information about you in relation to that website. Some information it stores are things like username, your preferences on the site and other things which make it easier to access that site.
As stated, normally these cookies are perfectly safe and you don’t need to worry about them at all. However, some websites can store potentially dangerous tracking cookies on your system which can leave you open to attack from other malicious programs searching for personal data on your computer.
Depending on what browser you are using you can set the permissions to allow or not to allow cookies to be stored locally on your computer. If you are using Internet Explorer you can do the following to delete the cookies on your computer:
1. In Internet Explorer, click the Tools button, and then click Internet Options.
2. On the General tab, under Browsing history, click Delete.
3. Select the check box next to Cookies. If you only want to delete cookies, clear any other check boxes.
4. Click Delete, and then click OK.
If you are using Firefox you can do the following to set your permissions for how the browser will accept or deny cookies:
1) In Firefox click on the Tools Menu and then on Options
2) Select the Privacy Tab and find the Cookies Section
3) If you want to accept cookies, check the first box
If you leave it unchecked, you can choose what sites to allow cookies in the Exceptions Button
4) Now click the second check box and choose how long you want to keep the cookies on your system. Most cookies have an expiration date built into them so they will go away after a specific amount of time.
5) Lastly, you can choose to clear them all at the bottom of this page using the Clear Now button.
In general, cookies are harmless but if you think you have a problem on your computer related to cookies, you can remove them in the ways listed above or you can use a Malware Removal Program such as AdAware, Malwarebyte’s or SpyBot as these will detect malicious tracking cookies and remove them for you.