Standard uses for browser cookies
Website servers set cookies to help authenticate the user if the user logs in to a secure area of the website. Login information is stored in a cookie so the user can enter and leave the website without having to re-enter the same authentication information over and over.
The server also uses session cookies to store information about user page activities so users can easily pick up where they left off on the server's pages. By default, web pages really don't have any 'memory'. Cookies tell the server what pages to show the user so the user doesn't have to remember or start navigating the site all over again.
Cookies act as a sort of “bookmark” within the site. Similarly, cookies can store ordering information needed to make shopping carts work instead of forcing the user to remember all the items the user put in the shopping cart.
Persistent or tracking cookies are also employed to store user preferences. Many websites allow the user to customize how information is presented through site layouts or themes. These changes make the site easier to navigate and/or let the user leave a part of the user's “personality” at the site.
Learn more about the different types of cookies.
Due to their core role of enhancing or enabling usability and site processes, disabling cookies may prevent users from using certain websites.
Cookies are created when a user's web browser loads a particular website. The website sends information to the browser, creating a text file.
Whenever the user returns to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website's server.
Computer cookies are created not just by the website the user is browsing but also by other websites that run ads, widgets, or other elements on the page being loaded.
These cookies regulate how the ads appear or how the widgets and other elements function on the page.