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Cookies are small files that are written to your computer by a website, while you are surfing the web. The purpose of a cookie is to store some small piece of information, so that when you re-visit a web page, that piece of information can be retrieved.
A good example of this is the way in which hooksexup.com uses a cookie to recognize you as a logged-in member. When you log in to hooksexup.com, a cookie is placed on your computer. The cookie stores a code number. This code number allows hooksexup.com (but no one else, of course) to locate your record in our database, and pull up information like your membername, password, email address, etc. This is why, when you come back to the site later, your membername appears in the login box automatically.
Are cookies safe? When the internet was young, this was a valid concern. Not so much anymore. Your computer restricts cookies to a standard small size, and restricts them to a certain place on your computer (your cookies folder). This makes it just about impossible for a website to do any harm to your computer, using a cookie.
You can set your browser to not accept cookies, if you want. However, if you do this, you will find that you are unable to log in to hooksexup.com. This is because the cookie described above is necessary for the website to 'remember' that you are logged in. You can log in, but the next page that you go to will not know that you are logged in, because the cookie is not there, and will redirect you back to the login page! This is why you need to have cookies enabled in your browser in order to log in to hooksexup.com
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