Do you participate in online forums and have an account on some? Do you ever check the "Remember Me" box? Ever wonder how the website remembers you the next time you visit?

Yep, it's a cookie.

Do you browse shopping sites like Amazon? Notice how the site keeps track of the products you've recently viewed? Notice anything else that seems customised to you?

Yep, cookies again.

On the internet, a cookie is a small file that that websites use to store settings about your browsing. The cookie is stored on your computer and accessed by the website whenever you view its pages to give you more personalised browsing.

Cookies are used in many websites nowadays, with some websites being unuseable without them. However, as cookies track information about you and your browsing history, anti-spyware software will often recommend removing them.

You can remove cookies with no harm to your computer, but you may find that your favourite website doesn't remember who you are anymore.