How to Enable Cookies on a Mac

HTTP cookies are character strings, assigned by your web browser and stored on your computer, to act as a form of identification. A web browser assigns a cookie to a computer, the same way the government gives us social security numbers. Cookies authenticate users, store preferences like background color and text size, and act as session tokens. For e.g. to access your inbox, a session is started by your browser and you are assigned a cookie, so your browser knows for whom this session is for, and when did it start.

Cookie management is left up to the user, by the web browser. Since cookies are highly useful, and some websites won't function without them, it is important to know how to enable cookies in your web browser. Enabling and disabling cookies is a very simple and short task. But the Mac OS X is different from Windows, and hence, some cookie management steps are different. In this article, learn how to enable cookies on a Mac computer, in a few short and simple steps.

How to Enable Cookies on a Mac

There at least 30 web browsers available for download and usage. Each one has a slightly different way to allow cookies. Before following any steps, please open or start the browser.

Safari
Safari is the flagship web browser for Apple computers, and is included as part of the Mac OS X operating system. Steps on how to enable cookies for a Mac are:

1. From the Safari menu, click Preferences.
2. Click on the Security icon.
3. In the dialog box, look for Accept Cookies check box.
4. Check the Always option.
5. If you want to learn more about the cookies stored on your Mac, click Show Cookies.
6. Click Close.

Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer had a separate Mac version, IE 5, which has been discontinued. IE versions up to 5 will work on Mac but not any later versions. Steps to enable cookies in Internet Explorer are:

1. Click on the Edit option in IE toolbar.
2. Click on the Preferences option.
3. Click on the Receiving Files tab.
4. Choose Cookies under the tab expansion.
5. A drop-down list, with the question "When receiving cookies:" appears on the right hand side.
6. Select Never ask.
7. Then click Ok button below. Refresh browser to show changes.

Firefox
The second most popular browser, in the world is extremely Mac friendly. All versions, including the latest (4.0), are compatible with Mac. To enable cookies in Firefox, follow these steps:

1. Click on Firefox in the main toolbar and select Preferences.
2. Click on the Privacy tab and use the drop down box to select "Use custom settings for history".
3. Check "Accept cookies from sites".
4. Check "Accept third-party cookies".
5. In the "Keep until" drop down box, select "they expire" option.
6. Close the window.

Opera
The Opera browser is not included with any operating system, but is open source and available for free download. It can run on a variety of machines, like Windows, Mac and Linux and mobile phones, making it a versatile web browser. Steps:

1. Click on the O icon in the Opera browser.
2. Click on Settings, then select Preferences.
3. Click on the Advanced tab and select Cookies on the left side.
4. Select the "Accept cookies" option.
5. Click on Ok to save changes.

Chrome
Another popular browser, Google Chrome was not Mac compatible, at first. Its source code version, Chromium, is compatible with most Mac versions. But Chrome itself, will work only with Mac OS X 10.5 and later, with Intel processor. Steps to enabling cookies:

1. Select Chrome, then Preferences.
2. Click the Under the Hood tab.
3. Click Content Settings drop down box in the Privacy section.
4. Click the Cookies tab.
5. Select "Allow local data to be set" option.
6. Close the window

Camino
Camino is an open source, web browser, which is designed exclusively for the Mac OS X operating system. It integrates built-in Mac OS X services like Keychain, to be used in the browser interface. It is compatible with all versions of Mac OS X. Steps to turning on cookies are:

1. Click on the Camino icon and select Preferences.
2. Click on the Privacy tab.
3. Check the "Accept cookies from any site" option.
4. Close Preferences to reflect changes.

There are many myths and misconceptions about cookies. Cookies do show the web pages you have visited. but they are not executable, cannot duplicate themselves and are NOT viruses. They cannot manipulate your stored data or read the information and send it to someone. But their usefulness cannot be debated. They allow automatic logins and remember passwords and names. When sharing a machine, you should be a little cautious about cookies. Do not fiddle with, or delete cookies unnecessarily.