title: ASP.NET User Profile vs using Cookies
body: <p>I think, in almost all cases user preference data may be stored in a cookie with (almost) equally good results as when the User Profile API is used. Disadvantages of using cookies (for authenticated users) seem to be that a cookie can be deleted or time-out, in which case the user preference data will be lost. For anonymous users, if the preferences data needs to be persisted across sessions then a cookie will have to be used even when User Profiles are used.</p>
  
  <p>So what are some of the biggest advantages/disadvanges of using either User Profiles or cookies for storing user preferences? </p>