About cookies

Cookies are the way certain sections of the EMIS website knows who you are after you've logged in. Without cookies enabled on your system, the website does not recognise who you are and will keep sending you back to the login page. To have a trouble free experience using the EMIS website it's important that you have cookies enabled.

The truth about cookies

Unfortunately the media tends to jump in feet-first when it comes to issues regarding internet security, and as such can help to proliferate incorrect information about the way the web works. Cookies are just such a topic, and they have become a tool for scare-mongering by badly-advised organisations. Many websites use cookies, they are an entirely harmless technology used to store simple textual information regarding a user. Here is the truth about cookies:

  • Cookies are restricted, so they can only be read by the website (specifically the domain name or server, for instance emis-online.com) that sent them. They cannot be read by other websites, for example our website emis-online.com cannot read your amazon.com cookies.
  • Cookies CANNOT get personal information about you that you have not volunteered to a website. They are simple text files, and contain no code that could 'do' anything on your computer. They cannot get your email address, bank details, or anything else that you haven't actually given to the website that sent the cookie.
  • Cookies CANNOT be used to spread viruses, as they are just simple text files.

You may wonder why cookies are necessary. The answer, trying to steer clear of technical jargon, is that websites are extremely forgetful. Once you have requested a page from a website it immediately forgets who you are. So for websites requiring a login, like the EMIS Common room, a way has to be used to make sure that the website knows who you are, and the fact you've logged in, from one page to the next. Cookies were designed to fulfil this purpose.

For more information:

Cookies are a secure method of storing small pieces of information, at EMIS Online we use them to store your CDB number when you are logged in, and also to store the content of your shopping basket when you are using the Online Shop. If you do not wish for a cookie to be stored on your computer you will not be able to use the EMIS Online Common Room and several other areas of the EMIS website.

How to activate cookies in Internet Explorer 5 or earlier

  1. On the desktop of your computer, go to the Control Panel. Find the Internet Options icon and double click it. If you are not sure how to get to your Control Panel you can click your Windows start button, go to settings and choose Control Panel.
  2. A new screen will appear. Click on the Security tab then click on the Custom Level button.
  3. Another new screen will appear. Scroll down until you see the area which says Cookies. Make sure you have both sections set to Enable cookies.

How to activate cookies in Internet Explorer 6 (Windows XP)

  1. On the desktop of your computer, go to the Control Panel. Find the Internet Options icon and double click it. If you are not sure how to get to your Control Panel you can click your Windows start button, go to settings and choose Control Panel.
  2. A new screen will appear. Click the Privacy tab. You should either see a slider similar to the one pictured below, or the word custom (if you see the word custom, follow the instructions for advanced users instead).
  3. By default, this should be set to medium, if it is all the way at the top, move it down until the word medium is displayed, as this is the highest level which will allow the common room login cookie to work properly. Click OK, close all your open IE6 windows, and restart IE.

Instructions for advanced Users

  1. If you have not followed steps 1-2 above, do so now. Click the Advanced... button.
  2. Check Override automatic cookie handling and select Accept under both 'First party Cookies' and 'Third party Cookies'. Also, Check 'Always allow session cookies'.
  3. Click OK out of Internet options - close all your open IE6 windows, and restart IE.

Alternate instructions for those who require the medium-high or high privacy options

  1. In the Privacy tab, click Edit... in the Web Sites section.
  2. In The Address of Web Site box, type in http://www.emis-online.com then click Allow. This will enable all servers in the emis-online domain to set and read cookies unless you have the privacy settings explicitly set to block or allow all cookies.
  3. Click OK out of Internet Options – close all your open IE6 windows, and restart IE.