Why do websites use cookies?
Show answer & explanation
Answer: Remember user preferences
Display website graphics — Wrong. Cookies are text data, not graphics. They store information like login state, shopping cart, language preference—personalizing your experience.
Remember user preferences ✓ — Correct! Cookies are small text files stored by your browser when visiting websites. They remember: login status (stay signed in), shopping carts, preferences, language settings. HTTP is 'stateless'—each request is independent. Cookies provide 'memory' so websites recognize returning users. Some track behavior for ads (third-party cookies). You can clear them anytime!
Prevent website hacking — Wrong. Secure cookies help verify identity, but they're not anti-hacking tools. Primary purpose is remembering user information across sessions.
More Technology questions
- Why can Cloudflare's lava-lamp camera feed improve encryption even though the cryptographic software that consumes it is deterministic?
- If an attacker learns a pseudorandom generator's seed and algorithm after watching several outputs, why can the later outputs become reconstructable?
- If a phone game shuffle and a physical noise source both look messy, what makes only one useful for security against someone who knows the code?
- At parking-lot speed, why do quiet EVs need alert sounds before tire noise helps?
- Why does the Ferrari 296 cabin sound duct take sound before exhaust treatment?
- Why do sound engineers tune engine orders instead of just making a Ferrari-like exhaust louder?
