Good cookies vs. bad cookies

Don't know what cookies are and how they work? Read more about how these virtual cookies work here.

Good cookies

"Good cookies" are designed to make surfing the Internet easier for you. This is especially true if, for example, you regularly visit a website and log into your user account there. Good cookies contain information on language, page settings, email address or your name and help the website to recognize you as a frequent visitor and display the website accordingly. Session cookies, for example, store your password for the website you have logged into. When the session ends, the cookie is also deleted.

Bad cookies

"Bad cookies" are mostly "tracking cookies" from third-party providers whose aim is to market user data in order to display personalized advertising. An example: You search for a winter coat on Google and look at winter coats on various websites and stores. Subsequently, you are repeatedly shown winter coats in advertising banners on other websites that actually have nothing to do with clothing. The advertising providers have viewed the tracking cookies in your browser, so they know that you have just shown an interest in a winter coat. If many websites and advertising banners place one or more cookies that are not deleted (persistent cookies), detailed profiles of users and the websites they visit can be created by reading the cookies.

Tip

Practical tip: Take a look at the cookies that have been stored on your computer (browser). Here you will find instructions on how to access your stored cookies in the Firefox and Chrome browsers.