When you visit nearly every website these days, a little text box appears on the screen somewhere asking if you want to accept or reject cookies for the site. But what exactly does this mean?

A cookie is essentially a piece of code that can be used to remember information about a user’s visit to a website. Cookies are stored locally on a user's device, and websites can retrieve them so the site can behave more specific to that user's preferences and settings, like location. They can also be used to record other information about the actions a user takes on a web page, like adding an item to a shopping cart.

Some sites give you the option to only allow “functional” cookies, which means all cookies that help the site run more smoothly but not marketing cookies that can be used to collect your personal information.