Understanding Cookies

Most attempts to explain cookies simply can't resist using technical terms and turn people off - hence there is a lack of understanding of what cookies are and why they are used. Here is our attempt to rectify that situation. Sadly, there is a technical reference in the last item!

Have you ever stopped to wonder, when using for example, a shopping cart, how the web pages keep track of what you are doing? In the original spec for the world wide web it was not envisaged that this would be necessary and so by default, when you move from one web page (or web site) to another, the outside world has no way to keep track. This might sound useful from a privacy point of view, but imagine "logging in" to a web site only to have to re-do the process on every page you visit!!!

Cookies are harmless, small files which allow a web site to have a "memory" of where you have been or what your stated preferences are. Web sites can see only the cookies they put in place, not those of others. A cookie is nothing more than a number of text items which can be written to your computer or read from it - the same code cannot read any other information on your computer or plant anything harmful. The code cannot over-write any of your files or watch what you are doing.

There are companies who use the information for marketing purposes and the European laws, while allowing cookies, insists you explain their use on any given site (see the bottom of this article for our own explanation). This ensures the user is fully aware of why information, if any is being retained - at least on European sites!

The following FAQ should answer most of your questions including any relating to the ECL Website.

The ECL Cookie FAQ

Q: Are there different kinds of cookies?
A: Yes, there are two. The traditional cookie is a small text file which is stored on your computer in a directory usually named "cookies" whose exact location varies depending on the operating system and version. In a Windows desktop with multiple users, each has their own "cookies" directory. These traditional cookies may last the life of your daily browsing experience or may stay on the computer for days, weeks or months. Typically if you were to return to shopping cart weeks after your first visit and the system knows who you are and what you've ordered, that information comes either because you log in every time - or via a cookie. Another, important kind of cookie is the "session cookie" or "session variable" which does the same job but sits not on your computer but on the server which feeds pages to you. Typical web sites may use several of these but they rely on a single, special cookie on your computer. This cookie is always destroyed when you close down your browser.

Q: Do cookies use up a lot of disk space?
A: No. Typically cookies are tiny, less than 4K in size and there are limits as to how many cookies a single web site can store on your computer. The space requirements are trivial.

Q: Does ECL use Cookies?
A: No. There are plans to set up a Virtual Private Network where you will be given a secure name and password to log into an area where you can access downloads as well as gain access to information. Using this VPN will place a cookie on your machine, but only in order that you can gain quick access the next time you log onto the website.

Q: Could my Browser set up prevent me from using this web site
A: Rarely, but yes. Typically, "out of the box" Internet Explorer will run with our site just fine - but some users or administrators like to tinker with the controls. If you configure Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 or 4.01 to "Browse in a new process," any windows that you open are actually opened in a different process from the main window, resulting in a loss of server-side session variables.

To disable "Browse in a new process," follow these steps:
Close all instances of Internet Explorer.
Open Control Panel and choose Internet.
Go to the Advanced tab.
Under Browsing, clear the check box for "Browse in a new process."
Click OK to save the change.