Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Troubleshooting -- FTM for Windows: What Are Cookies?

What Are Cookies?

A cookie is a text file that is initially stored in your browser's working directory. Web sites use cookies to store user preferences and data for each person that visits the site. For example, some sites assign a unique number to each user to help identify them. They may use this number to grant people access to specific services and customize site content according to their preferences. Any site-specific preferences that your browser has are stored in your cookies file, including passwords and user IDs for those sites that require it (such as Family Tree Maker Online). Every time you visit a Web site your browser checks to see if you have any pre-defined preferences (a cookie) for that site. If you do, it sends the cookie to the server. If you don't, it sends a cookie to your computer.

In order to access the members-only sections of Family Tree Maker Online or GenealogyLibrary.com, your Web browser must accept cookies. Family Tree Maker Online stores a cookie on your hard drive when you submit your online registration; it uses this cookie to verify your account each time you revisit us. This allows you to use the special Family Tree Maker Online features that are reserved for our customers. Also, there are programs and browser plug-ins (such as Cookie Monster and CyberMedia's Guard Dog software) that will block cookies for reasons of security and privacy -- either disable or uninstall this program or plug-in if you have this type of software. If you're concerned about privacy, you can configure both browsers to warn you when a Web site sends you a cookie. This way you can accept any cookies submitted by Family Tree Maker Online, and reject those from other sites you may consider risky or unsafe. If you are still concerned about cookie usage, please learn more about how and why we use cookies.

We've posted instructions for enabling cookies in Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

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