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Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0
- Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
- Click on the "Privacy" tab.
- Click the "Default" button (or manually slide the bar down to "Medium") under "Settings".
- Click "OK".
- You may need to shutdown and restart Internet Explorer for this change to take effect.
Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 and later
- Select "Internet Options" from the Tools menu.
- Click on the "Privacy" tab.
- Click the "Sites" button.
- In the Field labeled "Address of website", fill in koolerdesign.com.
- Click the "Allow" button next to the field.
- Click "OK".
- You may need to shutdown and restart Internet Explorer for this change to take effect.
Apple Safari 4 and later
- Select "Preferences" from the Edit menu.
- Click on the "Security" tab.
- In the section labeled "Accept Cookies" make sure that the selection is set to "Always" or "Only Sites I visit".
- Close the Preferences window.
- You may need to shutdown and restart Safari for this change to take effect.
How to Enable Cookies in Mozilla Firefox 3 or later
- Go to the "Tools" menu.
- Select "Options".
- Select the "Privacy" icon in the top panel.
- In the top pulldown, be sure that the setting reads "Remember history" or "Use Custom settings for history".
- If you choose "Use Custom settings for history", check the box labeled "Accept cookies from sites".
- Click "OK" to save changes.
There are many Internet Security programs (e.g. Norton, McAfee, AVG, Kaspersky), as
well as browser plug-ins (e.g. the Google, Yahoo, and MSN "toolbars") that can also block cookies,
and each has it's own mechanism for turning them on. Please inspect your system to see if any of these
are installed and check the Help provided for them for instructions on how to enable cookies.
Cookie FAQ
What are cookies? Cookies are
just bits of text that web sites pass to your browser to store for a
specified length of time on your hard drive. Cookie text is so tiny,
you could have thousands of them stored, and it would still take up
FAR less than even a single megabyte! Your browser already uses many,
many, many times more space to cache recent webpages and images,
so you do not need to be afraid of cookies wasting disk space or memory.
Once cookies are stored, they are returned
to the website that originally stored them whenever you request other
documents from that site. This allows the website to "recognize"
you based on information you've previously provided. For example,
they might store your user ID for the website, your viewing preferences,
items in your shopping cart, etc. They are useful because there is
no other fool-proof way for a website to immediately recognize your
browser when you return later, due to the way the web works.
Why do you require cookies?
We have used cookies on site for a long time to manage your orders and
remember what you have put in your shopping cart, even if you have been
away from the site for some time. Like most shopping sites, cookies are
the only way to remember your order, unless we ask you who you are
over and over and over again.
Are cookies safe? Yes. Cookies are
literally just bits of text. They are not executed, and thus cannot
carry viruses. The default of all web browsers and most internet security
programs is to allow cookies to be used. This is because they pose
no legitimate security risk, and only the slightest privacy risk.
(We will expand on the privacy issues below.) Just like anything else
on the internet, if your software is flawed, security could be breached.
However, cookies themselves are not any sort of security threat, and
there are no known problems with the way modern browsers implement
cookies.
Will cookies invade my privacy?
The primary thing we'd like to make clear about cookies is that they
can only contain information that you have already provided!
They cannot be used by websites to somehow grab information from your
system that you have not already shared. If you have not shared your
email address or name with a website, enabling cookies is NOT going
to give them this information.
Cookies simply provide a way for a website to "remember"
information you've provided.
The biggest issue with cookies and privacy is related to "third-party"
cookies. These are often used by advertising companies to track which
ads you have viewed, and most modern browsers allow you to block third-party
cookies. You can block third-party cookies without causing
any problems for sites like Kooler Design that require cookies.
Third-party cookies have given all cookies a bad name, and for those
that are interested in the details and differences between the two,
please read this item.
My browser isn't blocking cookies,
but your page still shows they are disabled. What gives? If you
have made sure your browser is not blocking cookies, click the refresh
button on your browser's menu bar one more time to confirm. If it still shows "DISABLED,"
you may have software installed that is blocking cookies, or your
internet provider or company may be blocking cookies at their firewall.
If you have network security software installed, like Zone Alarm or Norton
Interenet Security, they may be blocking cookies as well and you should check
their settings.
If you have made sure your browser and your internet security software
are not blocking cookies, your service provider or company firewall
may be blocking them. This is rare, as cookies are used by many sites
in many useful ways, but it happens on occasion. Please
read more on this here.
Do cookies cause spam or pop-up ads?
Short answer: No. Since we still hear from people who swear that turning
cookies on resulted in more spam or pop-up ads, we will go into more
detail.
The only way the amount of spam you receive will increase is if more
spammers obtain your email address, or the existing spammers that
already have your address decide to send more spam. Neither of these
things is affected by turning cookies on or off in your browser. Cookies
do not reveal your email address to a website -- only you can do that.
Pop-up ads are also not related to cookies. In fact, enabling cookies
is likely to decrease the amount of pop-ups you see, because many
sites will use cookies to store the fact that you've already seen
their pop-up in a certain timeframe. If you have cookies disabled,
they don't know if you've seen it, and are more likely to show it
to you. The rest of the sites using pop-up ads don't care one way
or the other, and will show you pop-up ads no matter what. If you
want to stop pop-up ads, switch to a browser that blocks them (like
Mozilla), or install a tool
that blocks them (e.g. Google's
Toolbar).
What if my provider blocks cookies?
Cookies have gotten a bum rap, partly because many don't understand
how they work, and partly due to the way some advertisers use third-party
cookies (detailed below). Since early browsers
could not block third-party cookies, some organizations took the extremely
conservative stance to block ALL cookies. This happens most often
in large corporations, school campuses, libraries, etc.
Times have changed -- browsers provide great control over what kinds
of cookies you want to accept, and blocking them completely at a central
location should be phased out, in our opinion.
We understand that it may seem as though you can do nothing about
the policies of those in charge of your internet connectivity, but
you may be surprised at what can happen if you explain to them that
you need cookies to be able to get your work done.
We ask you to please try to contact those in charge. Try to locate
the email address of your system or network administrator (support@yourdomain
is a good starting point). Explain that you are trying to use koolerdesign.com,
that we require cookies, and you can even point them to this Cookie
FAQ. Many network administrators turn on cookie blocking and will
leave it on until they receive complaints.
You may also ask them to make concessions, such as allowing cookies
from koolerdesign.com, or allowing session cookies (which are the least we
require for things to work).
Many, many, many legitimate companies make use of cookies to improve
your experience and provide a high level of service on the web, including:
Amazon.com, American Express, CNN, ESPN, FedEx, Google, etc.
In fact, it is hard to find any company that is not using cookies
in benign ways.
What if my provider won't unblock
cookies? Unfortunately, cookies are required for our shopping cart to
work, and thus you will not be able
to buy things from our site until you can get to
an internet connection that allows you to use cookies.
Although we know that 95% of our members are cookie-enabled, we don't
know how many out of the remaining 5% are going to be unable to allow
cookies due to reasons beyond their control. We would like to hear
from you if you fall into this category. Please send
us an email, and let us know what organization you are with that
is blocking cookies. If you could also provide us with an email address
to reach this organization, we may be able to discuss the problem
with them directly. (Obviously we cannot promise anything, but we
would like to try and help whenever possible.)
We do apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, and want you
to know that we would not be taking these steps if we did not think
they were absolutely necessary.
More Details About Cookies
What is the difference between first-party
and third-party cookies?
Whenever you receive something from a website (such as a web page
or an image), it contains a "header" that describes the
item you are receiving. This header can include a cookie. This is
how cookies are sent and received.
For example, if you request a webpage from cnn.com, you know you
are getting that page from cnn.com, and any cookie included in that
page's header is considered a first-party cookie. Since only cnn.com
will ever see this cookie, it is completely harmless. It cannot be
used to track you beyond cnn.com, since no other website can retrieve
this particular cookie.
However, when you get that cnn.com page, your browser may also retrieve
a banner ad image, let's say it is from doubleclick.com (a well-known
internet advertising company). This image can also include a header
that contains a cookie. This cookie comes from doubleclick.com, and
is considered to be a third-party cookie because it does not originate
from the website you are viewing.
It is perfectly fine to block third-party cookies. Unlike first-party
cookies, they serve you no useful purpose. It is conceivable that
third-party cookies could pose a privacy invasion, if two things were
to happen: (1) You provide information to an unscrupulous website
which then divulges your information to an unscrupulous internet advertiser,
AND (2) you do not block third-party cookies, allowing the advertising
firm to track you on any site that uses their services.
In summary: if you only allow first-party cookies, there can be no
invasion of privacy. Even allowing third-party cookies does not necessarily
mean your privacy can be invaded, as many things have to fall in place
for that to happen.
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