A cookie is a piece of information which a website transfers to the cookie file of the internet browser on your computer. The internet browser saves the information and sends it back to the website server whenever the internet browser returns to the website.
Cookies can help websites to arrange content to match your preferred interests more quickly and are used by many major websites.
A cookie will typically contain the name of the domain (internet location) from which the cookie has come, the "lifetime" of the cookie (i.e. when does it expire), and a value, usually a randomly generated unique number.
UK Office Direct only use session cookies on this website which are temporary cookies that remain in the cookie file of your internet browser until you leave the site or the cookies lifetime has expired.
How we use cookies on our site and what information we collect
We use session cookies:
- To allow you to carry information across pages of our site and avoid having to re-enter information
- To allow you to punch-out to the HSBC ePayments service
- To compile statistics that allow us to understand how users use our site and to help us improve the structure of our website.
Please note that the use of any information we collect through the use of session cookies shall be subject to our Policy on Privacy and Data Protection.
Use of web beacons
Some of our web pages may contain electronic images known as web beacons (sometimes known as clear gifs), these allow us to count users who have visited these pages. Web beacons collect only limited information, like time and date of a page view and a description of the page on which the web beacon resides. These beacons do not carry any personally identifiable information and are simply used to track the effectiveness of particular advertising campaigns.
Disabling cookies
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies by modifying the settings in your browser. However, you may not be able to use our site if cookies are disabled.
You can easily delete any cookies that have been installed in the cookie folder of your browser. For example, if you are using Microsoft Windows Explorer:
- Open 'Windows Explorer'
- Click on the 'Search' button on the tool bar
- Type "cookie" into the search box for 'Folders and Files'
- Select 'My Computer' in the 'Look In' box
- Click 'Search Now'
- Double click on the folders that are found
- 'Select' any cookie file
- Hit the 'Delete' button on your keyboard
If you are not using Microsoft Windows Explorer, then you should select "cookies" in the "Help" function for information on where to find your cookie folder.
