For more info...

There are two ways to have your password "remembered" for a site.

One is to have your browser remember it for you. Internet Explorer and Firefox both have this feature, other browsers probably have it too. You can turn this off in your browser's preferences if you don't want it to do that.

For this type of "remembered" what happens is you come to the site's regular login page, but the browser recognizes the site and fills in your name and password for you, so you just have to hit "enter" without filling in the info yourself.

The second way if for some specific sites that feature an autologin. PsychCentral is like this. On the login page it gives you an option to "remember" you. The next time you come back to the site you don't even see the login screen, you just go right in to the forums. The exception would be if you hit the "logout" button on the site, which will log you out and you will have to enter your name and password again the next time you come (which may possibly be auto-filled in for you by your browser if it is set to do so... see the info above). Think of it this way: at specific sites that offer this feature, you stay logged on until you log out (whether you close your browser, shut off your computer, whatever)... but on most sites (or if you have this option unchecked) you are automatically logged out when you close your browser.

So if you are logged on "forever" how does the site know it is you when you turn on your computer, open your browser, and come here... without you having to enter your name and password when you get to the door? This is what a "cookie" does. When you choose the "remember me" option it writes a small file on your hard drive that has encoded your name and password information. This small file is called a "cookie". When you come to PC the browser looks on your hard drive for a cookie written by this website. If it doesn't find one, the site doesn't know who you are, so you get the name and login screen. If it finds the cookie, it reads it, and used that to validate your login info... if it matches, the browser passes you right to the forums, logged in as yourself (so you have access to your PM's, private settings, etc).

Cookies can hold other kinds of data. Some websites pass them back and forth to see where you have been and where you go. For example advertising sites may use them to see if you actually go to the stores they advertise and purchase products. Note that they are not storing your personal data, cookies don't have like your credit card numbers or anything, but some people just don't like the idea of the possiblity of being followed like that. That's why some spyware/antivirus software will delete cookies for you. If you really care about that, you should shut your cookies off, it is also in your browser options, and if you do that it just won't let any site that tries to write a cookie do so on your hard drive.

Not all prevention software will erase or prevent cookies. It depends on the software and on the settings for that software.

There is really no privacy compromised if you utilize the first feature, to have the browser just fill in the info for you, AS LONG AS you have control over your computer. That is, if you have the browser remember your login info, no one on the outside can take advantage of that... but anyone who has access to your computer could log in as you and make changes etc.

For that reason you always have to make sure you NEVER use EITHER method when using a "public" computer, like in a library or cafe for example, or at a friends house... AND make sure you log out and close the browser when you are done. Otherwise whoever walks up next can log in as you.