About Cookies

• What is a cookie?
• Why does the McGraw-Hill Professional web site use cookies?
• Can I stop the cookies from being set?
• Will another Web site be able to access my information?
• Can I look at my own cookie or delete it?
• Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I accept your cookies?
• How secure is it to accept cookies?

What is a cookie?

A "cookie" is a small file placed within your computer when you visit certain web sites which make use of cookies. A cookie is always associated with a specific domain. The cookie file contains specific information and is stored in a designated place on your computer's hard drive. Cookies are transmitted from a web server by way of a browser such as Internet Explorer and Netscape. Cookies can be used, among other things, to identify you when return to the site. The McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing Group's web site is one of many sites that use cookies.

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Why does the McGraw-Hill Professional web site use cookies?

On our site, session cookies are used for our online ordering system. In this instance cookies remember what a customer wants to buy by keeping track of items placed in the user's shopping basket. If the shopper were interrupted while shopping, the cookie file would contain/record the contents of their shopping basket until they returned to continue shopping. Some cookies have expiration dates. When a cookie expires, your browser will simply erase it from your hard drive. Temporary cookies will only remain active while your browser remains open. Once the browser window is closed, the cookie will expire and be erased from your hard drive and subsequently you would lose the contents of your shopping basket. This is commonly known as a "session cookie".

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Can I stop the cookies from being set?

As explained above, our online ordering system requires that you accept the cookies from The McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing Group to enter the Web site. You can tell a cookie comes from us if you see "books.mcgraw-hill.com" in the cookie notification alert. In general, cookies are harmless. We recommend keeping them and turning off the "Always confirm before setting a cookie" feature in your browser. Cookies are so popular these days (some sites will set several cookies on each page!) that it's really annoying to confirm each and every cookie you receive. Many sites won't work properly without cookies.

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Will another Web site be able to access my information?

The information stored in the cookie can only be accessed by the web server which issued the cookie. The issuing site will not have access to information outside of the cookie or other areas of your computer. Only The McGraw-Hill web server can read the information stored within your cookie. No other Web site has access to it through your browser. That is how Web browsers are designed.

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Can I look at my own cookie or delete it?

You can find your own cookie file on your hard disk and see what kind of information is being stored in it, and by which sites. You can also delete the file, if you wish (which, of course, effectively deletes all the cookies that were stored there). For Windows machines, look for a "cookies.txt" file under the directory where you've stored Netscape. Internet Explorer stores cookies in a folder called "Cookies". On the Macintosh, look in the System Folder under Preferences; in the Netscape Navigator folder, it's called "MagicCookie".

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Will I receive unsolicited e-mail if I accept your cookies?

No. Acceptance of cookies from our web server does not result in your receiving any additional e-mail from us. You will only receive promotional email from us if you choose to do so. For more information, please view McGraw-Hill Global Education Holdings, LLC Privacy Policy.

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How secure is it to accept cookies?

A Cookie cannot be used to get data from your hard drive, get your email address or steal sensitive information about your person. But a Cookie can be used to track where you travel over a particular site. This site tracking can be easily done without using cookies as well, using cookies just makes the tracking data a little more consistent.

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