A cookie, also known as an HTTP cookie, web cookie, or browser cookie, is usually a small text file given an ID tag that is stored in your computer's browser directory or program data subfolders while the user is browsing that website. The browser sends the cookie back to the websites server to notify it of the user's previous activity every time the user visits.

Cookies were created to be a reliable method for websites to remember stateful information or to record a user's browsing activity when a user returns to a website for a second time. Cookies can be used for recording items in a shopping cart, contact form data, your bank card number, your login preferences and/or recording which pages were visited by the user as far back as months or years ago.

A cookie supplied from the website being visited is called first party cookies. Some websites will fetch additional pieces of information, such as a javascript file, from other locations and this second location may set a cookie on your computer, these are termed as third party cookies.

Cookies cannot carry viruses or install malware on a host computer although they can be used for tracking user activity, tracking cookies and especially third-party tracking cookies are commonly used as ways to compile long-term records of an individual’s browsing history. For some people this can be a privacy concern and the UK, EU and USA have introduced rules relating to the use of cookies.

Not all cookies are used for tracking a user's browser habits, some, such as authentication cookies, perform essential functions in the modern web. They are used by web servers to know whether a user is logged in or not, and which account they are logged in with. Without this the site would not know whether to send a page containing sensitive information, or require the user to authenticate themselves by logging in. The security of an authentication cookie generally depends on the security of the issuing website and the user's web browser but in most cases sensitive cookie data would be encrypted.

Image Resolutions uses a limited number of cookies on this site

Cookies are maintained by your web browser, so the default method for managing them (shown below) will vary depending on which browser you are using.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 and above

1. Click on the ‘Tools’ menu (this may be under the ‘gear’ icon)
2. Select ‘Internet Options’
3. On the ‘Privacy’ tab adjust the slider for adjustment of the security levels.
4. Click on the ‘Sites’ button to allow or refuse cookies from individual sites

Mozilla Firefox 7.0 and above

1. Open the menu item 'Tools'
2. Click on 'Options'
3. Select the 'Privacy' Tab
4. In the History subsection change the drop down ‘Remember history’ to ‘Use custom settings for history’
5. To stop accepting cookies remove the tick from ‘Accept cookies from sites’
6. You can use ‘Exceptions’ to allow or refuse cookies from individual sites

Google Chrome

1. Click on the ‘Customise and control Chrome’ button (three horizontal lines) and select 'Settings'
2. Click 'Show advanced settings' at the bottom of the screen
3. In the 'Privacy' section, click on the 'Content settings...'
4. Under the cookies subsection adjust the selected option to your preference
5. You can allow or refuse cookies from individual sites by clicking on ‘Manage exceptions…’

Apple Safari (OS-X only)

1. Click 'Safari'
2. Select 'Preferences'
3. Click 'Privacy'
4. In the 'Block cookies' subsection specify whether Safari should accept cookies from websites

Mobile Browsers
Due to the rapid development of operating systems and browsers used on mobile devices it is recommended to follow the individual devices instructions in regards to cookie management.

Below you will find the default methods used to remove all cookies from the most common web browsers.

If your browser is not listed please refer to it's documentation on how to remove cookies.

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 and above

1. Click on the 'Tools’ menu (this may be under the ‘gear')
2. Select the ‘Internet Options' menu item
3. On the ‘General' tab click ‘Delete...’ in the Browsing history subsection
4. Ensure the ‘Cookies and website data’ is selected
5. Click 'Delete'

Mozilla Firefox 7.0 and newer

1. Open the menu item 'Tools'
2. Click on 'Options'
3. Select the 'Privacy' Tab
4. Click the 'remove individual cookies' link
5. If a ‘Time range to clear’ is shown select ‘Everything’
6. Ensure ‘Cookies’ is selected
7. Click ‘Clear Now’

Google Chrome

1. Click on the ‘Customise and control Chrome’ button (three horizontal lines) and select 'Settings'
2. Click 'Show advanced settings' at the bottom of the screen
3. In the 'Privacy' section, click on the ‘Clear browsing data’
4. On the ‘Obliterate the following items from’ drop down select ‘the beginning of time’
5. Ensure ‘Cookies and other site and plug-in data’ is selected
6. Click ‘Clear browsing data’

Apple Safari (OS-X only)

1. Click 'Safari'
2. Select 'Preferences'
3. Click 'Privacy'
4. Click 'Details'
5. Select one or more website that stores cookies, and then click 'Remove' or 'Remove All'

Mobile Browsers
For removing cookies on mobile devices please refer to the documentation that came with your device.

Image Resolutions, like many other website owners, uses analytics to monitor web traffic accessing it's website, the information gathered is used to tailor the site to best serve the needs of the people visiting it and aid in search engine optimisation.

Image Resolutions uses the privacy focused Piwik analytics platform, this is completely self hosted allowing increased privacy for visitors to this site.
For more information about Piwik's focus on user's privacy please click here.

Piwik allows more control over privacy settings and automatically anonymises the IP addresses of visitors to the site, respects the DoNotTrack setting in browsers and retains gathered information for less time.

If visitors prefer not to be tracked on this site, but do not have the DoNotTrack setting active, you can also opt out by clicking here. This will install a 'piwik_ignore' cookie on your computer which will stop you from being tracked.

Disclaimer: Although Image Resolutions does everything it can to protect your privacy while on this site, it can not guarantee that other sites do the same. When you visit another site it will have it's own privacy rules and it is recommended that you look for their cookie or privacy policy if you have any concerns.

Image Resolutions has included html code on this website to allow for more engaging social media posts. Utilising the Open Graph and Twitter Cards API's

Facebook Social widgets are used on already more than 19% of all websites & blogs (source w3techs). When you visit a website with a Facebook Like button (or any other FB functionality) your browser will send data (and your IP address) to Facebook. Recently it was made public that Facebook creates shadow profiles of logged out users. This means that even if you are logged out or not a Facebook member, they still keep track of the websites and articles your IP address (and other browser unique identifiers) was looking at.

To optimise this website Image Resolutions, like other website owners, makes use of content delivery networks offered by several third parties.

A content delivery network (CDN) is a distributed system of servers deployed in multiple data centres around the world. The goal of a CDN is to serve content to users quickly and reliably by obtaining the information from the closest server(s).

list here