Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Almost every time I run SuperAntiSpyware on my WinXP SP3 computers, it finds Adware tracking cookies, which I delete as suggested. From what I can see, they return almost immediately when I visit certain websites. Are they dangerous? Is there any way to avoid them while still going to those sites? Thank you! Jo-Anne Quote
Guest VanguardLH Posted February 13, 2009 Posted February 13, 2009 Jo-Anne wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Almost every time I run SuperAntiSpyware on my WinXP SP3 computers, it finds > Adware tracking cookies, which I delete as suggested. From what I can see, > they return almost immediately when I visit certain websites. Are they > dangerous? Is there any way to avoid them while still going to those sites?</span> And your choice for a web browser is WHAT? For IE, you can use the IE7Pro add-on which has a privacy feature to wipe files and cookies when you exit IE. That way you can still allow 1st party cookies (but personally I still block 3rd party cookies using an IE setting) so a site that requires them will still function properly but their cookies are gone when you exit the web browser. You could use PopUpCop (now free) which also provides for cookie whitelisting. Any cookies for domains that aren't in the whitelist can be forced to be per-session cookies (i.e., they get deleted when you exit the web browser. This way you can purge all cookies except for those sites where you want to keep them. Cookies are .txt files. Are you also afraid of text files containing malware? They are text files. They are not executable. They are NOT malware (but many anti-malware products will report on cookies because, gee, they have to make themself look good somehow). Cookies can be used to track your navigation between sites but only if you allow 3rd party cookies. While a site can write a cookie for another domain, a domain cannot read a cookie unless that cookie is for that domain. So 3rd party cookies are usuable by the 3rd party sites but their content was created by the 1st party site; that is, they can read the cookie to see what the prior site put in them. That's how they are used to track your movement on the web. So just don't allow 3rd party cookies. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http_cookie While cookies can be used to track your navigation between sites, they are NOT malware. It is misleading if an anti-malware programs indicates otherwise. Many are so poor at malware coverage that they throw in alerts about cookies because it makes them look like they do something. Quote
Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Thank you, Vanguard! Yes, I use IE. If the only issue is deleting cookies after one exits IE, I guess I'm covered. I run CCleaner at the end of each day. I guess I should also run it before I start up SuperAntiSpyware. I've whitelisted certain cookies in CCleaner, and it deletes the rest. Jo-Anne "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:gn4ujj$7oh$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:blue"> > Jo-Anne wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> Almost every time I run SuperAntiSpyware on my WinXP SP3 computers, it >> finds >> Adware tracking cookies, which I delete as suggested. From what I can >> see, >> they return almost immediately when I visit certain websites. Are they >> dangerous? Is there any way to avoid them while still going to those >> sites?</span> > > And your choice for a web browser is WHAT? > > For IE, you can use the IE7Pro add-on which has a privacy feature to > wipe files and cookies when you exit IE. That way you can still allow > 1st party cookies (but personally I still block 3rd party cookies using > an IE setting) so a site that requires them will still function properly > but their cookies are gone when you exit the web browser. > > You could use PopUpCop (now free) which also provides for cookie > whitelisting. Any cookies for domains that aren't in the whitelist can > be forced to be per-session cookies (i.e., they get deleted when you > exit the web browser. This way you can purge all cookies except for > those sites where you want to keep them. > > Cookies are .txt files. Are you also afraid of text files containing > malware? They are text files. They are not executable. They are NOT > malware (but many anti-malware products will report on cookies because, > gee, they have to make themself look good somehow). Cookies can be used > to track your navigation between sites but only if you allow 3rd party > cookies. While a site can write a cookie for another domain, a domain > cannot read a cookie unless that cookie is for that domain. So 3rd > party cookies are usuable by the 3rd party sites but their content was > created by the 1st party site; that is, they can read the cookie to see > what the prior site put in them. That's how they are used to track your > movement on the web. So just don't allow 3rd party cookies. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Http_cookie > > While cookies can be used to track your navigation between sites, they > are NOT malware. It is misleading if an anti-malware programs indicates > otherwise. Many are so poor at malware coverage that they throw in > alerts about cookies because it makes them look like they do something. </span> Quote
Guest VanguardLH Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Jo-Anne wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Thank you, Vanguard! Yes, I use IE. If the only issue is deleting cookies > after one exits IE, I guess I'm covered. I run CCleaner at the end of each > day. I guess I should also run it before I start up SuperAntiSpyware. I've > whitelisted certain cookies in CCleaner, and it deletes the rest.</span> But all that is a manual process that you have to remember to execute. I have the IE7Pro add-on delete all cookies, including 1st party cookies. I've found very little use for 1st party cookies. I lose some conveniences at some web sites but I prefer a clean host. Alternatively, as mentioned, PopUpCop is free and includes cookie whitelisting. That means you only specify once that you want to keep cookies from a domain and thereafter you don't have to go running CCleaner or any other utility to get rid of the non-whitelisted cookies. PopUpCop has the advantage that it only loads when the web browser is running which is the only time when cookie management is appropriate. There are cookie manager that run continuously in the background even when the web browser is not running. Quote
Guest John Mason Jr Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 Jo-Anne wrote:<span style="color:blue"> > Thank you, Vanguard! Yes, I use IE. If the only issue is deleting cookies > after one exits IE, I guess I'm covered. I run CCleaner at the end of each > day. I guess I should also run it before I start up SuperAntiSpyware. I've > whitelisted certain cookies in CCleaner, and it deletes the rest. > </span> There is a preference setting that will tell SAS to ignore cookies That way you can manage them in CCleaner But I would recommend Firefox and the No-Script ad-in for better security, instead of worrying about cookies http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ http://noscript.net/ John Quote
Guest Andrew Taylor Posted February 14, 2009 Posted February 14, 2009 "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message news:%23GsxwngjJHA.3728@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Almost every time I run SuperAntiSpyware on my WinXP SP3 computers, it > finds Adware tracking cookies, which I delete as suggested. From what I > can see, they return almost immediately when I visit certain websites. Are > they dangerous? Is there any way to avoid them while still going to those > sites? ></span> I saved this from way back in 1997 from a guy called Dick Humphrey on MSN help fourums. BTW, my wife is also Jo-Anne! Happy Valentines. A paste from the www.microsoft.com: What's A Cookie? A cookie? What's this you're offering? A cookie is a very tiny piece of text we're asking permission to place on your computer's hard drive. If you agree, then your browser adds the text in a small file. Its purpose is to let us know when you visit microsoft.com. This text, by itself, only tells us that a previous microsoft.com visitor has returned. It doesn't tell us who you are, or your email address or anything else personal. If you want to give us that information later, that's your choice. So why do we offer cookies? Cookies help us evaluate visitors' use of our site, such as what customers want to see and what they never read. That information allows us to better focus our online product, to concentrate on information people are reading and products they are using. And guess what? A cookie can help you. If you accept a cookie, nothing affects you immediately. But you know what happens whenever you want to download software, access a premium site or even request permission to use a Microsoft logo on your Web page? You get asked questions like who you are and your email address. And that happens every time you want to download stuff. If you have accepted a cookie, however, those questions eventually will be asked just once, no matter how often you download software or how many Microsoft sites you visit. In the future, a cookie will allow you to tell us what information you prefer to read and what you don't. If you're a gamer, for example, we can advise you on content specific to games. Why are we telling you all this? Because we want you to know why we ask you to accept a cookie. We want to be sure you understand that accepting a cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any personal information about you. Cookies are harmless, occupying just a few bytes on your hard drive. They also can be a Web site browser's very good friend. © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use. Last Updated: March 27, 1997 Quote
Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Thank you again, Vanguard! I'll check out PopUpCop, since I do like to whitelist a few cookies. Jo-Anne "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:gn69ap$hk9$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:blue"> > Jo-Anne wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> Thank you, Vanguard! Yes, I use IE. If the only issue is deleting cookies >> after one exits IE, I guess I'm covered. I run CCleaner at the end of >> each >> day. I guess I should also run it before I start up SuperAntiSpyware. >> I've >> whitelisted certain cookies in CCleaner, and it deletes the rest.</span> > > But all that is a manual process that you have to remember to execute. > I have the IE7Pro add-on delete all cookies, including 1st party > cookies. I've found very little use for 1st party cookies. I lose some > conveniences at some web sites but I prefer a clean host. > Alternatively, as mentioned, PopUpCop is free and includes cookie > whitelisting. That means you only specify once that you want to keep > cookies from a domain and thereafter you don't have to go running > CCleaner or any other utility to get rid of the non-whitelisted cookies. > PopUpCop has the advantage that it only loads when the web browser is > running which is the only time when cookie management is appropriate. > There are cookie manager that run continuously in the background even > when the web browser is not running. </span> Quote
Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Thank you, John! I'll definitely tell SAS to ignore cookies. I should try Firefox, but I've been too lazy so far. Maybe it's time... Jo-Anne "John Mason Jr" <notvalid@cox.net.invalid> wrote in message news:gn6hqj$19v$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:blue"> > Jo-Anne wrote:<span style="color:green"> >> Thank you, Vanguard! Yes, I use IE. If the only issue is deleting cookies >> after one exits IE, I guess I'm covered. I run CCleaner at the end of >> each day. I guess I should also run it before I start up >> SuperAntiSpyware. I've whitelisted certain cookies in CCleaner, and it >> deletes the rest. >></span> > > > There is a preference setting that will tell SAS to ignore cookies > That way you can manage them in CCleaner > > But I would recommend Firefox and the No-Script ad-in for better security, > instead of worrying about cookies > > http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ > http://noscript.net/ > > John </span> Quote
Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Thank you, Andrew! Jo-Anne "Andrew Taylor" <andrewcrumplehorn@spamcopSUBVERSIVE.com> wrote in message news:4996e54a$1@newsgate.x-privat.org...<span style="color:blue"> > "Jo-Anne" <Jo-AnneATnowhere.com> wrote in message > news:%23GsxwngjJHA.3728@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:green"> >> Almost every time I run SuperAntiSpyware on my WinXP SP3 computers, it >> finds Adware tracking cookies, which I delete as suggested. From what I >> can see, they return almost immediately when I visit certain websites. >> Are they dangerous? Is there any way to avoid them while still going to >> those sites? >></span> > I saved this from way back in 1997 from a guy called Dick Humphrey on MSN > help fourums. BTW, my wife is also Jo-Anne! Happy Valentines. > > A paste from the www.microsoft.com: > What's A Cookie? > > A cookie? What's this you're offering? > > A cookie is a very tiny piece of text we're asking permission to place on > your computer's hard drive. If you agree, then your browser adds the text > in a small file. Its purpose is to let us know when you visit > microsoft.com. > > This text, by itself, only tells us that a previous microsoft.com visitor > has returned. It doesn't tell us who you are, or your email address or > anything else personal. If you want to give us that information later, > that's your choice. > > So why do we offer cookies? > > Cookies help us evaluate visitors' use of our site, such as what customers > want to see and what they never read. That information allows us to better > focus our online product, to concentrate on information people are reading > and products they are using. > And guess what? A cookie can help you. > > If you accept a cookie, nothing affects you immediately. But you know what > happens whenever you want to download software, access a premium site or > even request permission to use a Microsoft logo on your Web page? You get > asked questions like who you are and your email address. And that happens > every time you want to download stuff. > > If you have accepted a cookie, however, those questions eventually will be > asked just once, no matter how often you download software or how many > Microsoft sites you visit. > > In the future, a cookie will allow you to tell us what information you > prefer to read and what you don't. If you're a gamer, for example, we can > advise you on content specific to games. > > Why are we telling you all this? Because we want you to know why we ask > you > to accept a cookie. We want to be sure you understand that accepting a > cookie in no way gives us access to your computer or any personal > information about you. > > Cookies are harmless, occupying just a few bytes on your hard drive. They > also can be a Web site browser's very good friend. > > © 1997 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Terms of Use. > Last Updated: March 27, 1997 > </span> Quote
Guest VanguardLH Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Jo-Anne wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Thank you again, Vanguard! I'll check out PopUpCop, since I do like to > whitelist a few cookies.</span> If using Windows XP, or earlier, I'd suggest NOT using their latest 3.x version. It seems to have a bug that it installs a program in the Startup group that is really only needed on Windows Vista. Don't know if the author fixed that install bug in the last couple of weeks. Instead use their 2.x version. Quote
Guest Jo-Anne Posted February 15, 2009 Posted February 15, 2009 Thank you again! Since I use WinXP, I'll not do the latest... Jo-Anne "VanguardLH" <V@nguard.LH> wrote in message news:gn9fc4$81t$1@news.motzarella.org...<span style="color:blue"> > Jo-Anne wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> Thank you again, Vanguard! I'll check out PopUpCop, since I do like to >> whitelist a few cookies.</span> > > If using Windows XP, or earlier, I'd suggest NOT using their latest 3.x > version. It seems to have a bug that it installs a program in the > Startup group that is really only needed on Windows Vista. Don't know > if the author fixed that install bug in the last couple of weeks. > Instead use their 2.x version. </span> Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.