A cookie is a small amount of information used by some web sites. A web site that sets cookies will ask your browser to place one or more cookies on your hard disk when you visit the site. Later, when you return to the site, your browser sends back the cookies that belong to the site.
Before loading a web page that uses cookies, your browser handles the page's cookies by doing two things:
In this section: |
You can specify how cookies should be handled by setting your cookie preferences and by using the Cookie Manager.
To change your cookie preferences:
Disable cookies: Choose this to refuse all cookies.
To control cookies on a site-by-site basis:
When you are warned (while browsing) that a web site is requesting to set a cookie, you can click Yes to allow or No to deny the cookie. You can also select the option for your browser to "Remember this decision."
If you select "Remember this decision," you will not be warned the next time that site tries to set or modify a cookie, and your "yes" or "no" response will still be in effect.
If you wish to change a remembered response later, use Cookie Manager to edit your list of automatically stored cookies.
To stop automatically accepting cookies from a site:
To view detailed information about cookies:
Item | Explanation |
Name | This is the name assigned to the cookie by its originator. |
Information | This string of characters is the information a web site tracks for you. It might contain a user key or name by which you are identified to the web site, information about your interests, and so forth. |
Host or Domain | This item tells you whether the cookie is a host cookie or a domain cookie. A host cookie is sent back, during subsequent visits, only to the server that set it. A server is a computer on the Internet. A web site resides on one or more servers. A domain cookie is sent back to any site that's in the same domain as the site that set it. A site's domain is the part of its URL that contains the name of an organization, business, or school---such as netscape.com or washington.org. |
Path | This is the file pathway. If a cookie comes from a particular part of a web site, instead of the main page, a path is given. |
Server Secure | This indicates whether the cookie was sent over a secure server. If a cookie is secure, it will only be sent over a secure (https) connection. Before sending a secure cookie, your browser checks the connection and will not send if the connection is not secure. |
Expires | This is the date and time at which the cookie is deactivated. The browser regularly removes expired cookies from your computer. |
Important: To remove cookies, follow the steps in this section. Do not try to edit the cookies file on your computer.
To remove one or more cookies from your computer:
You can also choose to prevent the removed cookies from being re-accepted later.
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Many web sites require you to type a user name and password before you can enter the site. For instance, personalized pages and web sites containing your financial information require you to log in.
The user name and password you use at a particular site can be read by the site's administrator. If this concerns you, you may wish to use a different password at every site with which you register. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to remember every single password you've ever used.
Password Manager can help you by storing your user names and passwords on your computer's hard disk, and entering them for you automatically when you visit such sites.
In this section: Using Password Manager to Remember User Names and Passwords Entering User Names and Passwords Automatically |
When you enter your user name and password at a web site a dialog box appears asking, "Do you want Password Manager to remember this logon?" You can choose the following options:
Password Manager saves your user names and passwords on your own computer in a file that's difficult, but not impossible, for an intruder to read. See Encrypting Stored Sensitive Information for information on protecting your stored user names and passwords with encryption technology.
If you use Password Manager to remember your user name and password for a web site, the next time you visit the site, Password Manager will automatically fill in your user name and password on the site's log in screen.
Password Manager is on by default. To turn it off:
To see a list of the user names and passwords you have stored:
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Many web pages contain forms for you to fill outorder forms for online shopping, information databases, and so forth.
Form Manager can save the personal data you need to enter when you fill out a form, by storing such information as your name, address, phone, credit card numbers, and so forth. Then, when a web site presents you with a form, Form Manager can fill it out automatically.
In this section: Filling Out Forms Automatically Form Manager's Automatic Notification Feature What Happens If I Provide Personal Information to a Web Site? |
When you fill out an online form, Form Manager normally detects the form and gives you an opportunity to save the personal data you entered into the form. Soon, Form Manager will have enough data to begin filling out forms automatically.
There are two ways to save personal data:
Form Manager stores your personal data on your own computer in a file that's difficult, but not impossible, for an intruder to read. See Encrypting Stored Sensitive Information for information on protecting your information with encryption technology.
To examine or edit personal data that Form Manager has saved:
The Form Manager dialog box appears. Click the subcategories on the left to view or edit the corresponding data. To view subcategories that aren't visible, click a category's triangle to expand the list.
To fill out an online form automatically:
(Note that the "Prefill Form" menu item won't be accessible if the Form Manager hasn't yet stored any relevant information.)
Form Manager is set to prompt you to save information whenever it detects that you have filled out an online form. To stop these messages from appearing on your screen:
If you provide personal information such as your name, phone number, or email address to a web site, it is free to store that information in its database and use it later. A web site might use this information to improve its service to you or target advertising to your interests. A web site could sell the information it has gathered to other companies.
One way to find out how a web site uses the information it gathers is to check its privacy policy.
Before providing personal information on an online form, you must decide whether or not you trust the company---just as you judge whether or not you trust a catalog company before you provide your credit card number on the company's order form.
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If you use Password Manager or Form Manager to save passwords and personal data, then this sensitive information is stored on your computer in a file that's difficult, but not impossible, for an intruder to read.
If you are not concerned about unauthorized use of your computer, you may not need further security. However, if your computer is in an area where unauthorized people have access to it, it's possible for a determined person to read the file containing your sensitive information.
For a greater degree of security, you may want to protect the file with encryption. Encryption makes it nearly impossible for an unauthorized person to view your stored sensitive information.
In this section: Encrypting Stored Sensitive Information |
To turn on encryption for your stored sensitive information:
If you choose to encrypt your stored sensitive information, you'll need a master password. With encryption selected, you'll be asked for your master password at least once during a browser session in which you access any of your stored sensitive information.
If you choose encryption, but don't already have a master password, you'll be prompted to create one the first time you try to save or retrieve your sensitive information.
If your master password has not previously been set, you can set it yourself:
Make sure your new password is difficult to guess. For some guidelines, see the online document Choosing a Good Password.
To change your master password:
Make sure your new password is difficult to guess. For some guidelines, see the online document Choosing a Good Password.
Normally, you are asked for your master password once during each browser session during which you access any of your stored sensitive information. However, you can log out of your master password so that it must be entered again before any sensitive information can be stored or retrieved. This is useful if you are going to leave your computer unattended for a period of time.
To log out of your master password:
If you forget your master password, you may have to reset it. In this case, you will need to clear all the sensitive information stored by Password Manager and Form Manager, because without your original master password you will not be permitted to use the information.
To reset your master password:
To clear all stored passwords and other sensitive information:
After you clear the saved personal information, you must remember all of the user names and passwords Password Manager had stored for you, because you will need to enter them when you visit the web sites that require them.
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This section describes how to set preferences for images. To view the preference settings for images, follow these steps:
Image blocking preferences allow you to control whether Navigator displays images:
These settings control how many times animated images repeat their animation:
7/9/2001
Copyright © 1994-2001 Netscape Communications Corporation.