Is Your Cookie Jar Full?

Checked your Cookie folder lately? OK, so you delete your Temp and Temporary Internet files on a regular basis. You do, don't you? I recommend that you do!!

Among the reasons your Browser and even your 'puter may have slowed down is that you have been accumulating Temp files, Temporary Internet files and Cookies.

Yes, Virginia, there is a "Cookie Monster". But he's not stealing cookies.....he's passing them out as quickly as he can to whomever he can easily pass them off on!!!

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 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. 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 (named and verified) 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 on your 'puter through your Browser or through your e-mail.

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

Bad Cookies: These aren't 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.

So if your Browser has the ability to let you monitor 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.

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