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The Great Cookie Debate
The internet is referred to as a "stateless environment." This means that as you move from place to place, there is no record of your activity. Intended to support anonymous browsing, it was soon realized that sometimes it is very important to keep a record of your movements... for instance, if you wish to buy a product, you can only do so by using a system which records your purchases as you move from page to page. There are three possible ways of keeping track of such information:
1) adding information to the address or URL
This looks something like this:
http://www.dot.com/home.htm?ordernum=35467
While adding information to the URL or address will work, it is the most error prone of all systems and can be either accidentally or deliberately broken by the user by simply typing in additional information into the address bar.
2) using "hidden fields" in forms
In this case, we store data in fields in forms which are not visible to the user. However, this can also be cumbersome and generate errors easily.
3) using cookies
Cookies are small text files stored on your hard drive that store information as you move from page to page.
There has been a great deal of hype about the issue of privacy and of security on the Internet. The truth is that if you deal with a reputable company, it is very unlikely you will have any problems. We at Lighthouse Depot are committed to making your visit to our site safe, private and secure.
To that end, we have chosen a system which stores a cookie containing the MINIMUM information about you... only your user name and an unique identifying number.
All other information (product purchases, credit card info etc) is stored directly to our database system, so that if your machine crashes or your connection to the Internet goes down, you can log back onto our site and continue as if nothing has happenned... your purchase information will still be on our computers. (Your credit card information is triply secure at Lighthouse Depot... read this.)
By using this approach, we make it possible for you to turn cookies off and still be able to view our site, read our stories and look at product information. However, if you wish to make a purchase you will need to enable cookies on your browser.
The following is a how-to for enabling cookies depending on your browser type.
If you are on AOL, you must allow javascript scripting in IE 5+ or the AOL Browser ... go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Security Settings --> Custom Level --> scroll to near the bottom and select Active Scripting "Enable".
AOL users click here for more instructions.
To enable cookies in Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 6:
Choose the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options, switch to "Privacy" tab, and lower the slider to Medium (note: if this still doesn't work, you'll need to select the "Edit Sites" button at the bottom, add one of these entries:
http://www.lighthousedepot.com
http://www.lighthousedepot.com
http://www.lighthousedigest.com
http://www.lhdigest.com
Choose the one that you normally use when going to our site.
Add it to the list, and select Allow.
You can also go to Tools --> Internet Options --> Privacy --> Advanced and check "override automatic cookie handling", "Accept" First Party cookies and make sure "always allow session cookies" is checked. Then hit OK and save and restart your browser.
Internet Explorer 5:
Tools/Internet Options, switch to "Security" tab, highlight "Internet Zone" and select "Customize Settings..."
Internet Explorer 4:
View/Internet Options, switch to "Advanced" tab.
Internet Explorer 3:
View/Options, switch to "Advanced" tab
Netscape 4 and up:
Edit/Preferences, highlight "Advanced"
Make sure that cookies are enabled on your browser.
Internet Explorer 4.5 for Mac: Go to Edit, then click on Preferences
In the left pane, click on Receiving Files, then click on Cookies.
In the right pane, use the pull down "When receiving cookies" and choose "never ask," "ask for each site," or "ask for each cookie." 4. Click on OK to save.
Netscape 4.x for PC: From inside the Netscape window:
Go to Edit, then click on Preferences.
On the left pane, click on Advanced, then on the right, check "accept all cookies" or "accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server".
Click OK to save.
Netscape 4.x for Mac:
Go to Edit, then click on Preferences.
Click on Advanced in the left panel.
Check "Accept all cookies" in the right panel.
Click OK to save.
Enabling cookies on Internet Explorer/AOL using Win95/98
(note: AOL software uses the Microsoft Internet Explorer as its default browser):
Click on Start from your Windows 95/98 taskbar.
Select Settings.
Click on Control Panel.
Click on the Internet icon. The Internet Properties window should appear.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Scroll down until you see the cookies icon. For lhdepot.com, choose either "prompt before accepting cookies" or "always accept cookies."
Once you have selected a cookie preference, click on the Apply button.
Click OK.
AOL for Mac:
Go to My AOL, then click on Preferences
Click on WWW.
Go to Advanced Settings. In the left pane, click on Receiving Files, then in the right panel, click on Cookies, and choose "Never Ask" or "Ask
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