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- <!ENTITY % brandDTD SYSTEM "chrome://global/locale/brand.dtd" >
- %brandDTD;
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- <!--
- Contributors:
- David Tenser <david.tenser@comhem.se> (original author)
- -->
- <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
- <head>
- <title>Managing Cookies</title>
- <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="chrome://help/skin/helpFileLayout.css"/>
- </head>
-
- <body>
- <h1>Managing Cookies</h1>
-
- <p>This document explains what cookies are, how they are used, and how you can gain
- control over the cookies stored on your computer by using the Cookie Manager in
- &brandFullName;.</p>
-
- <div class="contentsBox">In this section:
- <ul>
- <li><a href="#what_is_a_cookie">What is a Cookie?</a></li>
- <li><a href="#setting_up_cookie_rules">Setting Up Cookie Rules</a></li>
- <li><a href="#accepting_and_blocking_cookies">Accepting and Blocking Cookies</a></li>
- <li><a href="#the_cookie_manager">Managing Cookies</a></li>
- </ul>
- </div>
-
- <h2 id="what_is_a_cookie">What is a Cookie?</h2>
-
- <p>A cookie is a file created by an Internet site to store information on your
- computer, such as your preferences when visiting that site. When you visit a site
- that uses cookies, the site might ask &brandShortName; to place one or more cookies
- on your hard disk.</p>
-
- <p>Later, when you return to the site, &brandShortName; sends back the cookies that
- belong to the site. This allows the site to present you with information customized
- to fit your needs.</p>
-
- <p>Cookies can also store personally identifiable information. Personally identifiable
- information is information that can be used to identify or contact you, such as
- your name, e-mail address, home or work address, or telephone number. However, a
- web site only has access to the personal information that you provide. For
- example, a web site cannot determine your e-mail address unless you provide it. Also,
- a web site cannot gain access to other information on your computer.</p>
-
- <p>When you use the default cookie settings, this activity is invisible to you,
- and you won't know when a web site is setting a cookie or when &brandShortName;
- is sending a web site its cookie. However, you can set your cookies &pref.plural; so that
- you will be asked before a cookie is set.</p>
-
- <h2 id="setting_up_cookie_rules">Setting Up Cookie Rules</h2>
-
- <p>By default &brandShortName; accepts all cookies. If you want to gain more control over
- what cookies are stored, follow these instructions:</p>
-
- <ol>
- <li>Select &pref.menuPath;.</li>
- <li>Click the Privacy panel and then click on the Cookies label.</li>
- <li>Select the <em>ask me every time</em> &pref.singular; from the <span class="menuPath">
- Keep Cookies</span> combo box.</li>
- </ol>
-
- <p><img src="http://mozilla.org/projects/firefox/help/1.0/cookie_ask.png" alt=""
- width="425" height="317"/></p>
-
- <p>After this is done, you may decide exactly which cookies should and should not be saved.</p>
-
- <h3 id="other_settings">Other Settings</h3>
-
- <p>There are also other &pref.plural; that affect how cookies are managed by &brandShortName;.
- They are not needed for the cookie rules to work but are explained anyway:</p>
-
- <dl>
- <dt>Allow sites to set cookies</dt>
- <dd><p>If you don't want any sites to store cookies on your computer, uncheck
- this &pref.singular;. Note that some sites may not work properly when cookies are
- disabled.</p></dd>
- <dt>for the originating web site only</dt>
- <dd>
- <p>If &brandShortName; stores a site's cookie, it will return the cookie
- only to that particular site. &brandShortName; will not provide one site
- with cookies set by another. Since a web site can only receive its own
- cookies, it can learn about your activities while you are at that site
- but not your activities in general while surfing the Web.</p>
- <p>However, sometimes a web site displays content that is hosted on another
- site. That content can be anything from an image to text or an
- advertisement. The other web site that hosts also has the ability to
- store a cookie in &brandShortName;, even though you haven't visited the
- site directly.</p>
- <p>Cookies that are stored by a site other than the one you are visiting
- are called third-party cookies or foreign cookies. Web sites sometimes
- use third-party cookies with transparent GIFs, which are special images
- that help sites count users, track email responses, learn more about how
- visitors use the site, or customize your browsing experience.
- (Transparent GIFs are also known as web beacons or web bugs.) When this
- checkbox is checked, it blocks these foreign cookies from being
- saved.</p>
- </dd>
- <dt>Keep Cookies:</dt>
- <dd>
- <ul>
- <li><strong>until they expire</strong>: If this &pref.singular; is selected,
- cookie information will be removed when it hits its expiration
- date.</li>
- <li><strong>until I close &brandShortName;:</strong> If this &pref.singular; is
- selected, the cookie information will be removed when you restart
- &brandShortName;. Web sites requiring the use of cookies will still
- work, but if you restart &brandShortName;, the web site will think that
- you logged into the site for the first time again.</li>
- <li><strong>ask me every time:</strong> Display an alert every time a web
- site tries to store a cookie to ask you if you want that cookie
- stored.</li>
- </ul>
- </dd>
- </dl>
-
- <h2 id="accepting_and_blocking_cookies">Accepting and Blocking Cookies</h2>
-
- <p>Assuming that you've enabled the cookie rules explained above, you'll see a
- dialog whenever a site tries to save a cookie on your computer:</p>
-
- <p><img src="http://mozilla.org/projects/firefox/help/1.0/cookie_accept.png"
- alt="" width="286" height="87"/></p>
-
- <dl>
- <dt>Allowing a Cookie</dt>
- <dd>To allow this particular cookie, just click <em>Allow</em>. If you trust
- the site and don't want this dialog to be shown each time the site tries to
- save a cookie, check the <em>Use my choice for all cookies from this
- site</em> checkbox and then click <em>Allow</em>. &brandShortName; will
- remember this and never ask about cookies for this site again. If you later
- regret your choice, read about the <em>Cookie Manager</em>.</dd>
- <dt>Blocking a Cookie</dt>
- <dd>If you don't want this cookie to be saved, click Deny. If you don't trust
- the site or suspect that it's compromising your privacy, check the <em>Use
- my choice for all cookies from this site</em> checkbox and then click
- <em>Block</em>. &brandShortName; will then put this site on the list of
- blocked sites and never save cookies for it. This choice can be undone using
- the Cookie Manager.</dd>
- </dl>
-
- <h2 id="the_cookie_manager">Managing Cookies</h2>
-
- <p>Use the Cookie Manager to view and remove cookies and manage per-site cookie
- &pref.plural;. It is accessible through the Cookies section in the Privacy tab of
- &pref.singularCaps;.</p>
-
- <h3 id="the_cookie_list">The Cookie List</h3>
-
- <p><img src="http://mozilla.org/projects/firefox/help/1.0/cookie_list.png"
- width="274" height="297" alt=""/></p>
-
- <p>The <em>Cookie Manager</em> dialog lists all cookies currently stored on your
- computer. You can select them to display more information about them. Use the
- <em>View Cookies</em> button in cookies &pref.plural; to access this window.</p>
-
- <p>To remove a cookie from the list, select it and click <em>Remove Cookie</em>.
- To remove all cookies, click <em>Remove All Cookies</em>. (This is the same as
- clicking the <em>Clear</em> button from the <a
- href="prefs.xhtml#privacy_options">Privacy panel</a> of the &pref.pluralCaps;
- window.)</p>
-
- <p><strong>Don't allow sites that set removed cookies to set future cookies</strong><br/>
- Even if you remove cookies now, you will reacquire those same cookies the next time
- you return to the web site. To prevent that from happening, select this checkbox.
- When this checkbox is selected, web sites for the cookies that you are removing are
- added to the list of sites whose cookies will automatically be rejected.
- <strong>Important</strong>: You must check this &pref.singular; before you start to remove cookies,
- or the sites will not be added to the list of blocked sites.</p>
-
- <h3 id="the_site_list">The Site List</h3>
-
- <p><img src="http://mozilla.org/projects/firefox/help/1.0/cookie_manager.png"
- alt="" width="247" height="291"/></p>
-
- <p>This is the list of sites that are either allowed or not allowed to store
- cookies on your computer. In the Status column, you can see if a site is
- blocked or allowed. Use the <em>Exceptions</em> button in cookies &pref.plural; to
- access this window.</p>
-
- <p>To add a site to the this list, simply type the site's domain name in the
- field labeled <em>Address of web site:</em>. Then click <em>Block</em> to
- reject cookies from the site, or click <em>Allow</em> to allow cookies from
- the site.</p>
-
- <p>To remove a site from this list, select it and click <em>Remove Site</em>. To
- clear the list completely, click <em>Remove All Sites</em>. This will reset
- the cookie rules and you will see dialogs for each cookie again.</p>
-
- <div class="contentsBox"><em>02 October 2004</em></div>
- <p>Copyright © 2003-2004 Contributors to the Mozilla Help Viewer Project.</p>
- </body>
- </html>
-