Most people know that when they visit a website it releases a cookie on their computer which can be considered a sort of receipt to certify the visit. "Cookies" are text files in which information is written about the site visited and the computer used to navigate.
The cookie ensures that when you search with Google, the results already clicked are colored purple or that when you enter Facebook some updates appear instead of others on the news home page.
Some sites instead release malicious cookies that try to steal private information from the computers of unsuspecting surfers.
For this reason, to protect your privacy, it is important to know what cookies are, how to manage them and how to delete them.
READ ALSO: Guide to Cookies, who creates them, how to block or delete them
In simple terms, cookies are files that are created when you visit a website.
They are used to store bits of specific information regarding the interactions between the PC and the website.
This information can be used by the web server later, for when the user returns to visit him.
The browser is the program that controls cookies and manages them on the computer.
Generally cookies have an expiry date and after a certain period of time they are automatically deleted if they are not renewed (by visiting a site again).
The reason why these cookies were invented is to have a convenient and efficient means of storing browsing data on a site .
Without cookies, a site visited thousands of times by different users would have had to save all interactions with users in its memory which are instead saved and downloaded to their computers.
The cookie identifies the user who visits a website (not with name and surname but with a number) therefore, when he accesses it again, the site knows that it is a second visit and, if specific preferences had been saved, the settings customized by the visitor.
Cookies can store all types of information, including the type of browser used, the location, the type of computer etc.
In general, this information can be used to improve navigation on the site.
For most sites, cookies are not harmful and represent just another protocol used on the internet to facilitate communication between users and servers.
Cookies cannot transport viruses or malware, nor can they transfer harmful elements to other users, therefore they should not be feared or deleted continuously.
The main problem of cookies is related to user privacy .
Through cookies it is possible, for a malicious site that wants to steal information on the internet, to know the history of the sites visited by a person on that computer and exploit this information to send him advertising targeted to his interests.
This is the tracking cookie that is not used to improve the browsing experience, but to track actions on certain websites.
There are therefore two ways to defend against tracer cookies.
You can browse without loading cookies, thus simulating a session of visits to websites as if it were always the first time.
This way of surfing is the so-called incognito or private browsing function of browsers that can be activated on Chrome, Opera, Internet Explorer or Firefox.
If instead you want to block all the tracking cookies upstream then you can use some extensions to not be tracked online by the sites by blocking the collection of personal data .
Basically only some cookies are allowed, blocking those from dangerous sites such as the most intrusive advertising agencies.
In general you can read the guide to delete cookies from Firefox, Chrome, Edge, Internet Explorer and Safari .
If you trust a site, there is no reason to block their cookies.
For each website you can read its privacy policy and the terms of use that are usually visible in the footer below.
If you do not trust a site, you can visit it in an unknown mode or you can delete the cookies immediately afterwards.
If you want to investigate the cookies that are stored in all the browsers used when surfing the internet, you can download and install the cookiespy program (attention that the Incredibar toolbar is also installed).
Finally, to detect and delete dangerous tracing cookies, the recommended program is definitely Spybot.
