Computer cookies are common these days and are one of the main keys in keeping online advertising alive. Whenever you visit a web site or see an ad for the first time, a cookie is saved on your hard drive. This identifies you (better said your computer) and takes further action with that ad network or site. On online host can thus determine the number of unique visitors they have. This is a very important aspect for online advertisers. Computer cookies can also aid in other tasks like keeping you logged in on a site or in your favorite forum.The entire system has a big flaw: users tend to delete these cookies either manually or by using anti-spyware programs. If you delete a cookie and then visit the website again you will receive another cookie and this will identify you as a unique visitor again although you already been there in the past 24 hours. This thing alone can make the numbers on any host site seem higher.

Because of this a recent study was released. Research firm comScore looked into the outcome of two common computer cookies on around 400,000 computers. The result showed that just 7.1% of the users deleted their cookies more than five times over a month. The numbers of individuals deleting these cookies were only 35.3% of the server’s visible traffic. This makes cookies still viable in online advertising research but programmers are constantly trying new ways to improve the system.