The cookie confirmation window
If you use the Ask for confirmation option on the Filters page, then you will be asked for confirmation when a cookie is received from a web site that you do not have a filter for. That is, any web sites which are not in your Accept cookies from list or your Reject cookies from list, and which attempt to set a cookie will cause a message box to be displayed on screen asking whether you want to accept the cookie or not. If the web site is in one of your filter lists (accept or reject), then the cookie will automatically be accepted or rejected without interaction and you will not see this confirmation message.
The confirmation message is displayed in a window which has four buttons allowing the user to choose what to do with the cookie. The window will display information about the cookie and then will ask whether or not you want to accept the cookie. You can answer using one of the following buttons in this dialog box:
Yes |
Selecting Yes will accept the cookie just this one time. If the cookie is received again in the future you will be prompted again. |
No |
Selecting No will reject the cookie just this one time. If the cookie is received again in the future you will be prompted again. |
Always |
Selecting Always will accept the cookie and then add the name of the server from which the cookie was received to the Accept cookies from list. Whenever any cookies are received from this server in the future, they will be automatically accepted with no further user interaction. If you click the wildcard check box (above the Never and Always buttons) before selecting Always, then the filter will be added to the accept list with a wildcard (see below). |
Never |
Selecting Never will reject the cookie and then add the name of the server from which the cookie was received to the Reject cookies from list. Whenever any cookies are received from this server in the future, they will be automatically rejected with no further user interaction. If you click the wildcard check box (above the Never and Always buttons) before selecting Never, then the filter will be added to the reject list with a wildcard (see below). |
The wildcard checkbox
Sometimes a checkbox will be displayed in this window just above the Always and Never buttons. When this checkbox is displayed it will display the name of the server (from which the cookie was received) converted to a wildcard. If you click this checkbox to place a check in it, and then click the Always or Never buttons, then the wildcard will be added to the Accept from or Reject from filter list. For example if a cookie is received from www1.abc.com, then the checkbox will display the text *.abc.com. If you check this box and then hit the Always or Never button, then the filter *.abc.com will be added to your filter list. In the future cookies received from www1.abc.com, www2.abc.com or xyz.abc.com (any server ending in abc.com) will be accepted or rejected automatically.
Note that this checkbox will not always be displayed. If the server name cannot be converted to a wildcard (i.e. the server name has only 2 parts such as server.com, rather than www.server.com) then you will not see the checkbox displayed.
For more information on wildcards, see the topic 'Using wildcards in filters' on the Filters page.