Cookies, known as a sort of “bookmark” within the site, are created when a user's browser loads a particular website which will then sends information to the browser and thus, creates a text file. Every time the user goes back to the same website, the browser retrieves and sends this file to the website's server. So cookies are often used to help users navigate their websites efficiently and perform certain functions, including to help authenticate the users when logging in to a website. They can store users’ log-in information so the users don’t have to re-enter the same information again and again to enter and leave the website. Cookies can also store user’s browsing preferences and history. Similarly, in online shops, cookies store ordering information needed to make shopping carts work instead of forcing the user to remember all the items the user put in the shopping cart.