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Cookies are used to store information locally on a PC, within the browser, by a web server. This information is not normally classified as being sensitive but is used to carry information about you and your activities whilst you move through a web site, this is often referred to as a "session". There are a number of other ways of being able to keep tracks on your activities through a web site, but cookies are often seen to be the most effective and in many cases the most secure option.
An example of this is when you are building up a shopping basket. You will need to visit a number of pages on the web site in order to find what you need. In order to keep a track of your basket the web server will need to hold information about your shopping requests. This information is stored securely on the web server, however the web server needs to be able to identify you as you to and fro between the pages of the web site. This identification of you and your browser throughout the visit to this site is done primarily using a cookie, holding a unique reference for you during your visit.
The number of cookies being stored on your PC will vary and the data stored within the cookies will also vary according to the way in which the web service operates. For the majority of websites, cookies are used to simply hold a "session" or "key" for you as an individual so that the web service can build up information for you during your visit to the site, such as the items you wish to order. There are also some cookies stored on your machine to aid you when you return to a given web site, such as the storage of your account reference or userid (not your password). Storing non sensitive information is often held simply to aid you as a user and to help provide you with re-occurring information rather than you having to remember it.
Your web browser passes to the web server a session identifier or key. This key enables the web server to keep track of you whilst you use the web site. It enables the web server to associate you and your web browser with the information you have already gathered within previous pages of the web site, for example items you may already have selected to add to a shopping basket. For your web browser to perform this function, cookies need to be enabled within your web browser.
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