A cookie is a small amount of information on your computer that is used by some websites. For a brief overview, see What Are Cookies and How Do They Work?
Before loading a web page that uses cookies, your browser handles the page's cookies by doing two things:
You can specify how cookies should be handled by setting your Cookies preferences. To change your Cookies preferences:
For more information about the effect of each setting, see Privacy & Security Preferences - Cookies.
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To set cookie permissions for the current website:
To set cookie permission for several websites or a website you are not viewing, use the Cookie Manager.
If you have selected Ask for each cookie
in
Privacy & Security Preferences -
Cookies, you will be warned (while browsing) that a website is asking to
set a cookie. When you see such a warning, you can choose to
Allow, Allow for Session, or Deny the cookie.
Other dialog options:
allowor
denyresponse will still be in effect.
If you want to change a remembered response later, use the Cookie Manager to edit stored cookies and add or remove cookie websites.
To stop automatically accepting or rejecting cookies from a website:
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To view detailed information about cookies:
For more information about the information displayed, see Stored Cookies.
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Important: To remove cookies, follow the steps in this section. Do not try to edit the cookies file on your computer.
To remove one or more cookies from your computer:
Even though you've removed the cookies now, you will reacquire those same cookies the next time you return to the website.
To prevent that from happening, select the checkbox labeled Don't
allow websites that set removed cookies to set future cookies
. When this
checkbox is selected, websites for the cookies that you are removing are
added to the list of websites whose cookies will automatically be rejected.
You must click OK for your changes to take effect.
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This section describes how to set your Cookies preferences and control other aspects of cookie handling.
For step-by-step descriptions of various tasks related to cookies, see Using the Cookie Manager.
This section describes how to use the Cookies preferences panel to change which cookies &brandShortName; will accept from and return to websites. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
Cookies help websites keep track of information for you, such as the contents of your on-line shopping cart or which cities' weather you want to know about. For a brief overview, see What Are Cookies and How Do They Work?
You can select one of these options:
Note: Blocking cookies does not remove old cookies. By blocking cookies you only block websites from setting new cookies, and old cookies will still be sent to websites. To completely block a website from receiving old cookies, you need to remove its cookies.
Note: Per-website cookie permission
supersedes default cookie setting. For example, if you allow a website to set
cookies, the website can set cookies even if you choose Block cookies
.
If you allow cookies or do not change the default setting, you can also select the following preferences:
You can also get more information about your stored cookies:
This section describes how to use the Stored Cookies tab of the Cookie Manager. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
The Stored Cookies tab lists all the cookies stored on your computer, the websites they belong to, and their current status.
When you select a cookie in this list, the following information about that cookie appears in the bottom portion of the tab:
| Item | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Name | The name assigned to the cookie by its originator. |
| Information | A string of characters containing the information a website tracks for you. It might contain a user key or name by which you are identified to the website, information about your interests, and so forth. |
| Host or domain | Provides the name of the cookie's host or domain.
A host cookie is sent back, during subsequent visits, only to the server that set it. A domain cookie is sent back to any website that's in the same domain as the website that set it. A website's domain is the part of its URL that contains the name of an organization, business, or school—such as netscape.com or washington.org. |
| Path | The file pathway. This is provided only if the cookie should be sent back to all URLs that are on that path or lower. For example, http://a.b/x/y/z.html means that the cookie can also be set for path x/. |
| Send For | When this field is For encrypted connections onlyit means that the browser checks the connection whenever the server asks for a cookie and will not send it unless the connection is encrypted (HTTPS). |
| Expires | The date and time at which the cookie will be deactivated. The browser regularly removes expired cookies from your computer. |
To remove cookies, click one of these buttons:
Select this checkbox to prevent the cookies you remove from being added back into the list later:
Even if you remove cookies now, you will reacquire those same cookies the next time you return to the website. To prevent that from happening, select this checkbox. When this checkbox is selected, websites for the cookies that you are removing are added to the list of websites whose cookies will automatically be rejected.
You must click Close for your changes to take effect.
This section describes how to use the Cookie Websites tab of the Cookie Manager. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
The Cookie Websites tab of the Cookie Manager lists the websites for which your decisions have been remembered, and what your decisions were. It also allows you to add and remove websites from the list.
To add cookies websites manually:
To remove a cookie website:
Once you've removed a website from this list, Cookie Manager remembers
nothing about it. If the Ask for each cookie
option is selected in
the Cookies preferences panel, you will be warned when any website not in this
list requests permission to set a cookie.
Many websites require you to type a user name and password before you can enter the website. For instance, personalized pages and websites containing your financial information usually require you to log in.
The user name and password you use at a particular website can be read by the site's administrator. Potentially, that person could then attempt to log into other websites where you may have used the same user name and password. If this concerns you, you may wish to use a different password at every website with which you register.
Password Manager can help you remember some or all of your names and passwords by storing them on your computer's hard disk, and entering them for you automatically when you visit such websites.
When Password Manager is active (as it is by default), it gives you an opportunity to save user names and passwords on your hard drive that you enter while using the Internet.
For example, after you log onto a website from a page that requests a user
name and password, a dialog box appears asking, Do you want Password
Manager to remember this logon?
When you see this dialog box, you can
click one of the following buttons:
Similarly, when you log onto an email account or an FTP site, or perform any other action that requires the browser itself to display a special dialog box for your login information, you can select this option in the dialog box:
The next time you check your email or perform other tasks that require a password only, the password will be submitted directly without any further action on your part. For tasks that require you to enter both a user name and password, you need to click a Login button or equivalent after Password Manager fills in the information.
Password Manager saves your user names and passwords on your own computer in a file that's difficult, but not impossible, for an intruder to read. See Encrypting Stored Sensitive Information for information on protecting your stored user names and passwords with encryption technology.
If the Password Manager dialog box described above does not appear when you click Submit after typing your user name and password, Password Manager may be turned off or the website may disallow its use.
To check whether Password Manager is currently active, see Turning Password Manager On and Off.
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There are two different ways that Password Manager can fill in user names and passwords on your behalf:
The next time you visit the website, Password Manager automatically fills in your user name and password on the website's log in page. You can then click the Login button, or equivalent, to send the information to the server.
Use Password Manager to remember these values.
In most cases, the next time you attempt to access that server, Password Manager automatically fills in your user name and password in the same dialog box. You can then click OK to send the information to the server.
In some cases, such as when you open your email account, &brandShortName; needs to send only the password to the server, and does so immediately without displaying the dialog box or requiring any further action on your part.
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Password Manager is on by default. To turn it off:
Remember passwordsto turn Password Manager off.
To turn Password Manager on, follow steps 1 and 2 above, but select the checkbox in step 3 rather than deselecting it.
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To see the user names and passwords you have stored and to display a list of websites from which logon information never is saved:
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While browsing the web, various items of potentially private information may be gathered and stored by &brandShortName;. This section describes the types of such private data and options to remove them either manually by request or automatically when shutting down &brandShortName;.
Several types of information are gathered and kept by &brandShortName; while you are browsing websites. Some of these data are necessary for those sites to function properly or more efficiently, others are for your convenience.
Privacy implications vary from type to type. For example, browsing history and cache contents provide a snapshot of your recent browsing activity which is local to your computer; cookies or offline web content may be used by a website to track a user directly across visits (e.g., for statistical purposes or for targeted advertisements).
In private browsing mode, no private data will be retained beyond the duration of the private session.
The following private information may be stored locally by &brandShortName;:
| Type | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Browsing History | If enabled in the History preferences, a history of any website pages you have visited is kept and may be suggested to complete website addresses in the location bar. |
| Location Bar History | This is a history of web addresses which were entered manually or copy-pasted into the location bar of the browser. This list is available in the location bar menu. |
| Download History | Depending on the options selected in the Downloads preferences, a history of files downloaded from websites is maintained in the Download Manager. |
| Saved Form and Search History | If enabled in the History preferences, text entered into elements of forms (e.g., user names, but not passwords) will be stored for the specified number of days; matches are suggested in a list when you revisit that page. If you put the search box onto your toolbar, the history of search terms will be stored as well. |
| Cache | The cache is a short-term store for web pages and other data (like e-mail attachments for IMAP accounts or remote images in messages) to avoid having these items being requested again from the server if they were just recently accessed. The cache on your disk may contain data up to the limit specified in the Cache preferences. |
| Cookies | Cookies are small pieces of information that websites use to keep track of users and sessions, or to store website preferences. Use the Cookies preferences to specify to what extent cookies are permitted and for how long they are kept. |
| Offline Website Data | Websites may be permitted to store their pages' contents and related data locally so that they are available for use without a network connection. See the Offline Apps preferences for options to control this behavior and to inspect the contents of stored offline website data. |
| Saved Passwords | If enabled in the Passwords preferences, &brandShortName; keeps entered passwords for later use, thus you don't have to retype them every time you visit a website. |
| Authenticated Sessions | Websites may require authentication (username and password, asked for with a pop-up dialog) and can keep track of such by authenticated sessions. A site will ask you for your credentials again when you proceed to the next page after this information is cleared. |
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This section describes how to use the Private Data preferences panel to determine when and which type of private data should be deleted. If you're not already viewing it, follow these steps:
The Clear Private Data section provides the following options:
Ask me before clearing private dataoption is checked, &brandShortName; opens a dialog box where you can confirm and change any items to be cleared.
Ask me before clearing private datais not checked, all types selected to be cleared by default will be deleted immediately without the dialog box being shown.
Note: Also consider more selective alternatives to delete private data. For example, the individual preference panels for each type may provide additional options, and the Data Manager allows to clear private data by type and the specific domain of a website. Rather than clearing all cookies when shutting down &brandShortName;, you could specify to allow cookies for sessions only, thus giving you the opportunity to establish exceptions for selected websites for which you want to retain cookies.
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Private data can be cleared at any time, either from the Private Data preferences by clicking the Clear Now button, or by selecting Clear Private Data from the Tools menu of a browser window. This initiates one of the following actions:
Ask me before clearing private dataoption is checked in the Private Data preference panel, &brandShortName; opens a dialog window where you can confirm and change the types of private data to be cleared as follows:
Clear Private Data Nowto clear the selected items, or Cancel to quit the dialog.
Ask me before clearing private datais not checked, all types selected in the Private Data preferences to be cleared by default will be deleted immediately without the dialog box being shown.
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There may be occasions where you don't want &brandShortName; to keep track of your browsing activities. For example, when someone else quickly wants to use your computer and you don't want your current browsing context disturbed; or, for confidential tasks such as online banking.
Opening a private window starts a private browsing session in which no private data on the sites and pages you visit are made available beyond the scope and duration of that session. Each subsequently opened private window becomes part of the same private session. It ends when the last private window is closed.
Private windows are not entirely isolated from non-private windows; private browsing just implies that &brandShortName; will not keep any local record of your activities in such a window. Some private data may be shared between private but not non-private windows and vice versa, others accessed in a read-only mode from a private window.
Note that Add-ons like plugins and extensions may not be subjected to these policies and may change their settings or modify their locally kept data even in a private window.
A browser window can be either in regular (non-private) or in private browsing mode. It is not possible to switch a non-private browser window into private mode, but you can open a new private window in two ways:
Open Link in Private Windowfrom the menu. The new private window will open, showing the page referred to by the selected link.
Any number of private and non-private windows can be open at the same time, but be aware in this case for which windows history information is kept.
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A private window behaves differently than a non-private window in the way it handles private data (see Types of Private Data for detailed information of the individual categories). Specifically, after closing a private session when closing the last private window, no information related to that session will be retained in &brandShortName;. Private data gathered in one private session won't be available to any future private session either.
To determine whether or not a window is in private browsing mode, have a
look at its title bar. Private windows show
- &brandShortName; Private Browsing
rather than just - &brandShortName;
at the end of the window's title.
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There is no special function or command to leave the private mode, and it is not possible to continue working in non-private mode with a private window.
To end a private browsing session, just close all private windows. There will be no record on &brandShortName;'s side on any browsing activities performed in any of the associated private windows.
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If you use Password Manager to save passwords, then this sensitive information is stored on your computer in a file that's difficult, but not impossible, for an intruder to read.
For example, if your computer is in an area where unauthorized people have access to it, it's possible for a determined person to read the file containing your sensitive information.
For a greater degree of security, you may want to protect the file with encryption. Encryption makes it much harder for an unauthorized person to view your stored sensitive information.
Your decision about whether to use encryption for stored sensitive data is a tradeoff between improved security and convenience.
If you use encryption, you will need to enter a master password periodically, which can be inconvenient. If you don't, it may be easier for a stranger who has access to your computer to steal your passwords.
To enable encryption of passwords you need to set a master password. If your master password has not previously been set, you can set it at this time:
Make sure your new password is difficult to guess. For some suggestions on how to improve password security, see Choosing a Good Password.
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To change your master password:
Make sure your new password is difficult to guess. For some guidelines, see Choosing a Good Password.
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Normally, you are asked for your master password once during each &brandShortName; session during which you access any of your stored sensitive information.
It's also possible to require that your master password be requested each time it is needed, or after a certain amount of time has passed. For details, see Master Password Timeout.
You can log out of your master password so that it must be entered again before any sensitive information can be stored or retrieved. This is useful if you are going to leave your computer unattended for a period of time.
To log out of your master password:
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If you forget your master password, you won't be able to access any of the stored password it protects. Your master password is your most important password. Make sure you remember it or record it in a safe place.
As a last resort, it's possible to reset your master password if you are sure you can't remember it. However, resetting your master password permanently erases all the web and email passwords, saved on your behalf by Password Manager. You will also lose all your personal certificates associated with the Software Security Device.
Before taking this drastic step, read Reset Master Password.
If you are sure you can't remember or retrieve your master password, follow these instructions to reset it:
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If you wish, you can choose not to download any images when you browse the web. This greatly restricts what you can view online, but may be helpful if you have a slow connection and wish to shorten the time it takes web pages to load.
You can also control how frequently animated images repeat their animation, or turn off animation completely.
The next section describes how to control these image settings. The default settings allow all images to be accepted and allow them to repeat their animation.
This section describes how to set preferences for images. To view the preference settings for images:
Image Acceptance preferences allow you to control whether or under what conditions the &brandShortName; browser should display images:
These settings control how many times animated images repeat their animation: