Internet Explorer gives you several options for configuring how cookies are handled on your computer. This is all done using the Privacy tab from the Internet Options window. Internet Explorer has six different privacy levels to choose from with the default being Medium.

• Block All Cookies: All cookies from all Web sites will be blocked. Any existing cookies on your computer will not be available to the Web sites that created them.
• High: Cookies without a compact privacy policy or those with a policy that uses your personal information without your consent are blocked. Cookies that were already on your computer can only be read in the first-party context.
• Medium High: Third party cookies without a compact privacy policy or those with a policy that uses your personal information without your consent are blocked. First party cookies without a compact privacy policy or those with a policy that uses your personal information without your consent are blocked. First-party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy and cookies that were already on your computer before you installed Internet Explorer 7 can only be read in the first-party context.
• Medium: Third party cookies without a compact privacy policy or those with a policy that uses your personal information without your consent are blocked.. First-party cookies that have a compact privacy policy which specifies that personally identifiable information is used without your implicit consent are allowed but deleted when you close the browser. First-party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy are only readable in the first-party context. Cookies that were already on your computer before you installed Internet Explorer 7 are also only readable in the first-party context.
• Low: First-party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy can only be reading the first-party context along with those cookies that existed before upgrading to Internet Explorer 7. Third-party cookies that do not have a compact privacy policy or that have a compact privacy policy which specifies that personally identifiable information is used without your implicit consent are deleted when the browser is closed.
• Accept All Cookies: All cookies are permitted.

By default, the privacy level in Internet Explorer 7.0 is set to Medium. This means that Internet Explorer places some restrictions on the use of cookies such as it blocks certain third-party cookies. You can customize the privacy level to suit your needs using the following steps:

1. Open Internet Explorer.
2. Click Tools and select Internet Options.
3. Click the Privacy tab.
4. Move the slider up or down to change the privacy level.

Keep in mind when you are customizing the privacy level, if you move the slider to block all cookies you may not be able to view some Web sites or take advantage of personalized features.

Tags: diana huggins, microsoft, ie 7, internet options privacy setting