A piece of information sent by a Web server to a Web browser that the browser software is expected to save and send back to the server whenever it is requested. You can set your browser to accept or not accept cookies. They contain information that either you entered through electronic forms or by recording your activities. They also remember “shopping cart” information and your user preferences. Cookies do not read your hard drive but they can be used to gather more information about you than would be possible without them.