About
This is the Wildlife Ways Cookies page. Cookies are small text files located in browser directories. When you visit a site that uses cookies for the first time, a cookie is downloaded onto your PC. The next time you visit that site, your PC checks to see if it has a relevant cookie and sends the information contained in that cookie back to the site. The site then ‘knows’ that you have been there before, and in some cases, tailors what pops up on screen to take account of that fact.
Are they good or bad?
They are beneficial because they can record preferences and store data (e.g. what’s in your online shopping cart). They can make sites easier to navigate and create a more personal browsing experience. The negative aspect of cookies is that information about you is collected and stored by a website and might be used be used to market services to you or shared with a third party who may wish to do the same.
There are two types of cookies that can be set, session cookies and persistent cookies:
- session cookies are set for a small amount of time, usually while your browser is open, and get deleted when you close your browser
- persistent cookies are stored on your computer for a longer period of time and can store things like login details, website preferences and information about what you were looking at.
Instructions for blocking cookies using browser settings:
The following websites provide browser specific instructions on blocking cookies: