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| Frequently Asked Questions |
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| What is a cookie? |
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| A cookie is a packet of information sent by a server to a browser and then sent back by the browser each time it accesses that server. Cookies can contain any arbitrary information the server chooses and are used to introduce state into otherwise stateless HTTP transactions. Without cookies, each retrieval of a web page (technically, each component of a web page) from a web site is an isolated event, virtually unrelated to all other views of the site's pages. By returning a cookie to a web server, the browser provides the server a means of connecting the current page view with prior page views. Typically this is used to authenticate or identify a registered user of a web site as part of their first login process or initial site registration without requiring them to sign in again every time they access that site. Other uses are maintaining a "shopping basket" of goods selected for purchase during a session at a site, site personalization (presenting different pages to different users), and tracking a particular user's access to a site. |
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