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DADDY BOB'S COMPUTER Q & A
May 20,
2007
Q.
Is there a way that I can keep the cookies
that are useful, and prevent those that are
spying?
A.
Yes, but first, a little explanation of just
what a cookie is. A cookie is a small file
that is stored on your computer, put there
by a web site, that keeps information about
you and your actions. The good ones help you
by saving the trouble of logging on to a
frequently visited site like "my.yahoo.com",
a subscription news site and other similar
type sites.
Bad
cookies are placed by ad companies that
usually pay to have their advertising on
other web sites. These track your visits to
different web sites, and then tailor their
ads to your interests. These can be embedded on websites
that you visit and track information on you
without your knowledge.
Internet
Explorer V7 makes it easy to see if a site
you are visiting contains links to other
sires that may be trying to put bad cookies
on your computer. Here's how to do it.
Go to a
web site that you want to check. Click View
from the menu, then select Web Page Privacy
Policy. If there is no View shown, press the
ALT key. Another way is to look at the very
bottom of the screen just right of center,
you will see this icon.
 .
If you
don't see this icon, then there are no other
links on the site. Double clicking on it will open
a dialog that looks like this.
In the
"Show" space, select All websites and all the
sites with links on the web page will be
listed. The first one will usually be the
"first party" cookie, and these can usually
be accepted as being useful. The rest are
"third party" and their cookies are usually
not useful, and are referred to as "tracking
cookies".
If you
right click on any of these listed here, you
will see this dialog.
Here you
can choose to always accept, always reject,
or use the default behavior of the site.
If you
left click on one of the items listed in the
Privacy Report and then click the Summary
button, you will get a window with some
information about what the site will do with
your information. Not all sites provide this
information. Those that don't, are
definitely bad and should be rejected. Here
is a sample of what is given.
As you
can see, this site will use your information
for among other things, "Anonymous
advertising data". Sites may say they don't
track individuals, but they do track IP
addresses. If you use a broadband
connection, you probably have a static IP
address, and that is as good at tracking you
as your personal phone number. Unless you
like ads and spam, this site should be
rejected too.
So, how
do you set your computer to reject all third
party cookies automatically? Open the
Control Panel, select Internet Options,
click the Privacy tab, then click the
Advanced button. This dialog will be
displayed.
Check the
"Override automatic cookie handling", Accept
first-party cookies and Block third-party
cookies. Leave the "Always allow session
cookies" unchecked and then OK twice to
exit.
This will
prevent most tacking cookies from being able
to track your actions and target you for
their ads. |
