Cookies are probably one of the most often misunderstood technologies on the web. They are small text files that sites place on your computer to store information between pages or browser sessions. This can be useful data (such as items in a shopping cart or username/passwords) or malicious data (such as a list of sites visited).

There are two types of cookies: Normal and Session Cookies. Normal cookies have an "expiration date" after which they are removed from your computer automatically (at least in theory). Session cookies are automatically deleted when your browser window is closed. This basic test will determine whether both types of Cookies are enabled on your computer. It will do this by attempting to write two cookies onto your computer (one of each type) and then attempting to read it. The normal cookie will be set to expire after the test is completed, so no permanent cookies should remain on your hard drive from this test. To remove cookies, I'd recommend downloading my Cookie Jar application.