Why is My Cookie Jar So Full?

This is a bit of a lengthy article but I think you will find it well worth reading. If not, e-mail me and I will publish your complaint in the next Ezine. LOL

Checked your Cookie folder lately? OK, so you delete your Temp and Temporary Internet files on a regular basis. You do, dont you?

Among the reasons your Browser and even your Puter seems to have slowed down is that you have been accumulating Temp files, Temporary Internet files and Cookies. If you missed our articles on emptying your Temp and Temporary Internet files, you can read all of our back issues at the new Archive section on our newest site CMYMTC.com http://www.cmymtc.com/welcome.htm and scroll down the Article Archives

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Article Archives:
Welcome to the CM/YMTC article archives. Thank you for your interest in our articles! .This is a collection of our great articles that have been published in our Ezines and many others on the Internet. All articles listed in these archives are original, written by Michael Smith, esm, and Gail Hornback. They may be freely reprinted, provided the resource box included with the article is left in tact. You are welcome to use any of them for your Ezines.
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We put this here in case you want to use any of our past articles, tips or Q&As for your Ezines.

Now on to the other Monster, the "Cookie Monster". I was probably as guilty as anyone about cleaning out Cookies until...... One day I went in to dump the "Cookie Jar" and started looking at some of them. Hundreds of them, no, thousands of them. Where in the H--- did they all come from? I could have opened a national bakery if they were edible.

Well, I decided to find out just where they were all coming from. I use Internet Explorer 6 and there is a Cookie manager in "Tools" "Internet Options" that will allow you to manage the Cookie activity. Here is how to set it up.

First you need IE6 and OE6 to use the options. I am quite happy with the new program. I have had very few problems and it has a lot of advantages over IE5.5 Go to the "Tools" menu and select "Internet Options". Click on the Privacy Tab. Now click on the "Advanced..." button. Make sure the "Override automatic cookie handling" box is checked.

You have some options here. I decided after a week to Accept First-party Cookies but kept, and still use Prompt for Third-party Cookies. You will go nuts if you ask for a prompt on both. However you might want to try the Prompt on First-party for a few days just to see where they come from.

When you have your choices made, click OK to close the dialog box and then click Apply, OK to close the Internet Options box. Now you are set to be overwhelmed. This will also alert you to Cookies that come in your e-mail. WHAT? Cookies in my e-mail? Yup, it will blow you away. More on this in a minute.

So what kind of Cookies are there? Chocolate chip? Raisin? I call them Good Cookies, Bad Cookies and Rotten Cookies. But like I said you get them in e-mail as well as from site visits. Any of these Cookies can be placed through your Browser or through your e-mail.

Good Cookies: These remember that you have been to a site and helps it load faster. Also may keep the site from giving you redundant information.

Bad Cookies: These arent all really that bad but some can be very undesirable. These can do a number of things like: Track who you are by your IP (internet provider) address. Obtain information by the site owner so they can decide how to hit you with pop-up windows. Find out how many times you have been to their site, what time of day and what pages you visited. There are a number of other things as well.

Rotten Cookies: This is bad news. besides tracking all the above, they can let a hacker come back and infiltrate your hard drive obtaining vital information like passwords, credit card information and other sensitive data. They can also infect you with a virus, collect e-mail addresses from your address books and literally do major damage to your system.

Here are some interesting things I discovered. One site upon opening tried to set 11 Cookies plus 5 for one pop-up window and 7 for another before I could even look at the site.

One site viewing 10 pages tried to set a total of 54 Cookies.

The average site that uses Cookies over a week of observing my activity was 3.5 per site per visit.

At least 75% of the HTML and about 25% of text e-mail attempted to set anywhere from 1 to 14 Cookies upon opening the e-mail.

You may experience different numbers but somebody out there is filling your Cookie Jar.

So if your Browser has the ability to let you check the Cookies you are getting in your Cookie Jar, use it. With the Prompt option you can accept or refuse Cookies by your choice in both your Browser and e-mail.

Got Milk?
Mike Smith,esm

About the Author

Your Internet Friend, Mike Smith, of CM/YMTC,
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