Cookies set by AVForums

What are cookies?

A cookie is a tiny text message file written to your computer (or whatever you use to surf the web) from the website you are visiting. It's like the website sending your computer an SMS text and your computer sending the same message back later on. Can an SMS damage your phone? No. Similarly cookies can't harm your computer. Cookies are not a virus or spam.

Remember that despite the apparent awareness of what 'you' are doing, you are still anonymous and using cookies does not mean the websites know who you are.

What websites use cookies?

Most of them is the answer. Obvious examples are BBC, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Yahoo and pretty much all forums and blogs.

What are cookies for?

Cookies actually make the web surfing experience better in a variety of ways like automatically logging you in to your favourite websites and remembering your chosen preferences. Cookies are also used by webmasters to see how people use their websites. This is of indirect benefit to users because the webmasters can improve their websites so they are easier to use.

At AVForums, we use cookies in these ways. The most obvious advantage in allowing us to serve you cookies is so that we can log you in automatically each time you visit, but there are also various other slick features disabled if you disable cookies.

Cookies are also sometimes used by advertising organisations to serve ads which are relevant to the websites you have visited and searches you have made. The concerns regarding these newer 'tracking cookies' have prompted the introduction of a new law by the EU which states that all websites which use cookies must give you the option to turn them off. And one can understand where the concern arises because it's unnerving to have adverts follow you round the internet.

At AVForums, we do not set any tracking cookies for advertising, though there may be some third party cookies set by our advertisers. Google are the largest organisation to use tracking cookies in their advertising and the best way to avoid them is to either log out of Google or choose not to be served tracking cookies through your Google preferences.

AVForums contains some affiliate marketing links placed into peoples' posts, from which we get paid commission on sales of the products or services written about. We use a 3rd Party to enable these affiliate partnerships. You can read their Privacy Policy and find more information on the cookies they use.

This table shows the cookies which could be set by AVForums for forum visitors and members

Notes:

• Not all of the above cookies are set for all visitors
• Cookies which last for the length of the 'Session' expire shortly after the person last visits the website.