*Information on Cookies ...

A cookie is not a program. It can't DO anything and is not, itself, capable of any mischief. Be assured that only ordering information that does not include your credit card number is stored inside the cookie. This is the same information you see in the shopping cart. The part number of the item, its description, quantity, price, etc. To check this out, notice your order at the top of the order page and the entries that you have selected. Then type in some phoney numbers in the credit no field. Then go to another page. Bring up the shopping cart again on this new page. You will notice that only the selected items are there. Your phoney credit number is not there because it is never saved in a cookie or any where else for that mater. This is why you are instructed to fill out this information only when you are about to send in your order because it is not saved. Also the information that was in the cookie (part number, etc) is deleted after you place your order as it is not needed any more. It is just there to to transfer the shopping cart data from page to page unlike your private information which is not transferred. Furthermore, if you do not submit an order and there are still items remaining in the shopping cart , cookies with (part numbers, item descriptions, quantities, prices, etc) will expired (be deleted) after a period of 24 hrs. Each browser has its own list of cookies. Netscape and Explorer do not share the same information, for example. Each is separate and stored in a separate folder. Crashing out of a browser will also lose this information. Checking your browser settings and becoming cookie aware can help prevent many such problems when browsing the Internet. Incidentally, only a small fraction (about 2 out of 100 -- or 2%) have problems with our order system. However, if you would like more information on cookies and their usage, check out http://www.microsoft.com/info/cookies.htm