What Are Cookies? And Should You Keep Them or Not? [Free Post]

In this post, I will talk about what are known as “Cookies”, and how to view or access them in your web browser, in this case, Firefox, and on your computer. I will also talk about why they’re not worth worrying about. Some have suggested it’s a good idea to remove them, and I’ll explain why I disagree with that, and why you likely will as well.

As they are known, cookies are small plain-text files that websites use to collect specific details about you and your computer to track when you visit those websites and conveniently fill in login forms. Mostly, they are harmless and integral to how the web works when used responsibly. However, in the years since the internet became widely used, websites are now using them to track your activity across the web. Thus, they have become more intrusive.

When you do a scan with any anti-malware program, they’ll often flag cookies as bad, partly because they’re taking up space on your hard drive or solid-state drive when the amount of space they take up is utterly insignificant. Many follow their program's recommendation to remove the cookies, which only leads to responding to annoying, repeated acceptance banners on various websites, ultimately forfeiting the convenience those cookies might have created.

Cookies honestly aren’t worth worrying about, but you should NEVER use them to store your login credentials because, as I mentioned, they are plain text. Plain-text files are NOT encrypted or secure in ANY way. If your computer is infected with a virus or malware, it can quickly scan those cookie files and grab that data.

Instead, store login credentials using a secure Password Manager like 1Password or Bit Warden. They do a much better job and keep your login information in your secure cloud account on those services so that data won’t be removed when you clear up “junk” files on your PC. These password managers will never forget your login information and securely fill it in for you.

That way, when you clear out your cookies and other “junk” files, it won’t matter if those cookies are gone. You likely won't even notice, aside from the annoying cookie banners so omnipresent on websites these days.

Many websites require the ability to use cookies on your computer for various reasons in the fundamental way websites work, as well as helping count ad impressions, among other non-intrusive and harmless information. This allows the website you enjoy to sustain itself and continue operating.

Another website preference example that is stored in a Cookie is the Celsius or Fahrenheit option on weather websites like Weather Underground.

Cookies do a LOT more than simply having the ability to store login credentials (reminder – please DON’T do that).

They can store website preferences as well, including different features you have turned on or off, such as Autoplay on YouTube videos.

Of course, not all websites are as responsible, but that’s where adblockers come in.

Certain websites will allow you to accept certain kinds of cookies but not others. For example, the Bloomberg website provides detailed opt-in options and descriptions for its cookies, as shown above. This isn't specific to Bloomberg, but they're undoubtedly transparent.

“Some of our partners process your personal information, including your IP address, hashed versions of your name, email, or phone number, and other digital identifiers based on legitimate interest for each purpose below. You can object to processing your personal information by exercising the choice below. Your choices will only apply to this digital property.”

These include personalized content, personalized ads, basic ads (not personalized), measuring ad performance, and content performance. None of these are harmful and arguably improve your browsing experience. More importantly, none of these are infections and should not be flagged by anti-malware programs, yet they are.

You could go through the list of cookies and specifically delete the ones you don't want, but that's a pain, and few are likely to do this, myself included.

You might object to tracking information such as your IP address, name, email address, or phone number. Your IP address is necessary to surf the Internet and can be used to determine your location, but not if you use a secure DNS service like NextDNS or a VPN service like ExpressVPN (affiliate link).

Be very intentional about whom you give your email address to and ensure your email service has good spam filtering (like Gmail). Services like Fastmail offer alias emails for just this purpose. For your phone number, unless you're going to use it for Two-Factor Authentication, it's OK to give them a fake number. I use 555-555-5555.

I don't mind personalized ads, which cookies allow for. I'd rather have ads for things I care about or might want to buy, though I'm unlikely to buy through an ad.

In short, leave the cookies alone, use a password manager to log into websites, and apply ad blockers where needed.

Thank you for reading this post! Please let me know what you think and what you’d like to read more about. If you enjoy my writing, please support my work for $5 per month! Check out KevinTheTechGuy.ca for more!