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Select one of the Questions below to see the response.

  1. Which browsers does the NCES website support?
  2. What can I do to increase the speed with which I access your site?
  3. What is a PDF file and what are the advantages of using this format?
  4. What is a Zip file and what are the advantages of using Zip files?
  5. What is "cache" memory?
  6. How do I clear the cache on my browser?
  7. What are cookies and how are they used on the NCES website?
  8. How do I bookmark my favorite pages?
  9. I bookmarked to a page within your site and now it does not work. Why?
  10. Can I link to your site from my site?
  11. How do I make the NCES website my start up page?
  12. I am having problems connecting to one of your pages. When I do, my system locks up. What's going on?
  13. How can I change my screen resolution?
  14. When printing an NCES publication in PDF, all the words run together on paper, but everything looks fine on the screen. Is the error in your document or my printer?
  15. I do not have a printer. Is there any other way to obtain NCES publications?
  16. When I download a PDF file, my browser screen goes blank and I never see the file.
  17. When I open a PDF file in my browser, Adobe Acrobat Reader says the file is damaged.
  18. What if I want to bypass my browser's PDF plug-in when downloading and save directly to my hard drive?
  19. I need some general troubleshooting advice for resolving print problems.
  20. I entered a URL and I got back a message that said "HTTP Error 404 Not Found. The web server cannot find the file or script you asked for. Please check the URL to ensure that the path is correct." What should I do?
  21. I'm fairly certain that the URL I entered is good but I'm not getting the page I expected. What did I do wrong?
  22. What if I'm looking for a Publication/Data Product, but don't know the exact title, author, or NCES number?
  23. What if I'm looking for a Publication/Data Product, and I have the exact title, but no matching titles are found?
  24. What if I'm not really sure what I'm looking for, but I have some ideas?
  25. How come when I do a search I only get 5 years worth of publications?
  26. What if I'm just looking for tips for effective searching?
  27. What is the best place to find tables and figures on education data??
  28. If I am moving how can I find out about schools, colleges and libraries in other areas?
  29. How do I stay at the forefront of what is going on in the work that NCES does?
FAQ Question and Answer

Question:
What are cookies and how are they used on websites?

Response:
Cookies are nuggets of information transferred to an individual's hard drive by a website; this is done for record-keeping purposes. An actual cookie is a short sequence of letters and numbers. The information collected is kept confidential by nces.ed.gov. The use of cookies is an industry standard; they can be found at most major websites. Cookies are useful because they serve as a gauge of popularity—showing us how often, and where, guests use the site. Most browsers are initially set to accept cookies. If you'd prefer, however, you may reset your browser so that it either refuses cookies or alerts you when cookies are being sent. On those pages where NCES uses "cookies" to facilitate your use of our site, we do not collect personal information about you and the cookie will be destroyed as soon as you exit your browser. There is no information stored on your computer and no unauthorized files are written onto your disk drives. The kind of cookies we use are called "session cookies" and they help you use our website interactively. To see cookie enabling/disabling options, please choose from the browsers listed below:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0: Use the "Tools" pull down menu, and click the "Internet Options" selection; this will display a tab menu. Choose the tab titled "Security" from the tab menu at the top. Select the "Internet" option. Scroll down until you see a section labeled "Cookies." You may now select between always accepting cookies, disabling cookies entirely, or prompting for cookies. Make your selection and click "OK" to have your cookie settings saved.
  • Netscape 7.0: Use the "Edit" pull down menu, and click the "Preferences" selection. A menu with several selections will appear in the left pane of the window. Click the category marked "Advanced," and you will see a Cookies section with several selection options. You can now select whether to accept all cookies, accept only cookies that get sent back to the originating server, or disable cookies entirely. You can also be prompted to accept or reject a cookie. Click "OK" when finished selecting.

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