• First party cookies

First party cookies are set by the website, you are visiting and they can only be read by that site.

• Third party cookies

Third party cookies are set by a different organisation to the owner of the website you are visiting. For example, the website might use a third party analytics company who will set their own cookie to perform this service. The website you are visiting may also contain content embedded from, for example YouTube or Flickr, and these sites may set their own cookies.

More significantly, a website might use a third party advertising network to deliver targeted advertising on their website. These may also have the capability to track your browsing across different sites.

• Flash cookies

Many websites use Adobe Flash Player to deliver video and game content to their users. Adobe utilise their own cookies, which are not manageable through your browser settings but are used by the Flash Player for similar purposes, such as storing preferences or tracking users.

Flash Cookies work in a different way to web browser cookies (the cookie types listed above are all set via your browser); rather than having individual cookies for particular jobs, a website is restricted to storing all data in one cookie. You can control how much data can be stored in that cookie but you cannot choose what type of information is allowed to be stored.

Cookies in use

How to delete cookies

Most cookies are easy to delete. Just pick your browser from the choices below and follow the instructions.

• Internet Explorer

Step 1: Press Start

Step 2: Click Control Panel

Step 3: Double click Internet options

Step 4: Under the General Tab, you will see 'Delete temporary files, history, cookies, saved passwords...'  Click Delete

Step 5: The Delete Browsing History dialog box will appear, click the 'cookies' checkbox

Step 6: Click the delete button at the bottom of the dialog box

Step 7: You will be taken back to the Internet properties dialog box. Click 'ok'

• Mozilla Firefox

Step 1: Look at the top end of your Firefox window and you will see a 'Firefox' button. Click it and click 'Options'

Step 2: Click on 'Privacy'

Step 3: You will see 'Firefox will:'.  Set it to 'Use custom settings for history.'

Step 4: Click on the 'Show Cookies' button on the right side

Step 5: If you want to delete cookies set by individual sites, enter the complete domain or partial domain name of the site you want to manage in the search field. Your search will retrieve the list of cookies set for that site. Click 'Remove Cookie'

Step 6: If you want to delete all cookies, click the top of your Firefox window and click on your Firefox button. Click the History menu and pick out 'Clear Recent History...'  Select 'Everything' for the 'Time Range To Clear' option. Click on the downward arrow located next to 'Details'.  This will open up the list of items. Click 'Cookies' and make sure all the other items are unselected. Click on the 'Clear Now' button at the bottom. Close your 'Clear Recent History' window.

• Google Chrome

Step 1: At the top right side of your browser toolbar, click on the Chrome icon

Step 2: Click on Settings

Step 3: Scroll to the bottom and click 'Show advanced settings'

Step 4: Under 'Privacy', you will see 'Content Settings', click on this

Step 5: Under 'Cookies', you will see 'All cookies and site data', click on this.  Please note that you can block cookies altogether from being set on your browser by clicking 'Block sites from setting any data.' Unfortunately, many websites you browse will stop working if you do this. It is better if you just periodically clear your cookies manually instead of preventing them from being set by your browser.

Step 6: You will see a full listing of all your cookies. You can click REMOVE ALL to clear all your cookies or you can pick a particular website and clear your cookies from that site.

• Safari

Step 1:  Open Safari.

Step 2:  Click Safari then Preferences. Click on 'Privacy.'

Step 3:  Click on 'Details.'

Step 4:  You will see a lit of websites that store cookies. You can remove single sites by clicking the 'Remove' button and selecting a site. If you want clear all cookies, click 'Remove All.'

Step 5:  When you have finished removing sites, click 'Done.'