You most often see ‘cookies’ when you are on a website and a pop-up appears asking you to accept ‘cookies’.  But what are cookies?  Great question!  Cookies seem to be one of those things that we sort of understand, but not really.

A “cookie” refers to a small text file of data which is sent to your internet web browser by a website you visit.  Cookies help the websites we visit to remember information in order to personalise our online experiences.

This could be, remembering pages or items we viewed and making suggestions to other items we might be interested in.

Another example to explain cookies – you add a few items to your ‘cart’ however you choose not to finalise the purchase.  The next day or week, you decide you do want to purchase those items, you open up the website and see that your items are still in the ‘cart’.  Due to cookies, the website and your browser remember your previous actions.

So, what are the potential risks of cookies? As cookies are little pieces of data, they take up room.  Having too many cookies can slow your internet.  There are also security risks as cookies are stored in the hard drive as text files, criminals could potentially access the files.  Some websites sent up by scammers may use cookies for malicious purposes.

You can choose to remove cookies one-by-one or remove all.  It is recommended to ‘clear cache’ and cookies every couple of months.  Each web browser will have a different process however it is usually found in settings.  For support to find how to clear this information, you can Google ‘how to clear cookies +your website browser’ or you can call the Seniors Enquiry Line on 1300 135 500 for support.