The Internet has grown in function and style over the past 10 years. As users, we expect far more from the websites we visit today, personalised content that interests us and is easy to use. Web pages must also be presented quickly, as we all expect the information to be there when we want it.

Business use has also changed in parallel to users. The cost of producing and maintaining a web service can be high, especially if the site experiences large volumes of traffic. This cost has to be recouped, and one of the ways of doing this is to gain information on how individual surfers use the site. The most common way of doing this is using a cookie.

This series of articles gives an overview of internet cookies, and dispels many of the myths surrounding them.