While I'm not sure what you mean by 'disabling' cookies, I always go to Tools in Internet Explorer, then under Delete Browing History, I delete everything there that I can, including cookies. To date, I've haven't found doing that kept any sites from working afterward. I've also deleted cookies with AVG Anti-Spyware with no problem afterward with nonworking sites. BombayGranny
Posted by: Bombay Granny at November 4, 2007 9:19 AM
Tracking is simply not an issue for many. I run Firefox with the Adblock Plus and Permit Cookies add-ons. I rarely see online ads and all cookies from most sites are immediately removed when the browser session is closed. Further, my IP address is dynamically assigned by my ISP, changing each time my DSL modem logs in, making tracking difficult by IP address.
What I'd like to know, are there any viable alternatives to push advertising?
Posted by: Ray at November 4, 2007 10:16 AM
Deleting all cookies deletes some that are useful, such as saved logon names so you don't have to enter them every time.
A better way is to use Karen Kenworthy's (www.karenware.com) free Cookie Viewer. Scan the list of cookies and delete any that you don't want. Any cookies that look like tracking cookies add it to the blocked cookies list in Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Privacy/Sites. So that site can never again put a cookie on your computer.
Posted by: Ken Crook at November 10, 2007 9:29 PM
I no longer allow CCleaner or other programs to clean out cookies. As long as everything is working OK it is just too much bother to start all over every month putting in my information in order to get another cookie. They are more useful than most users realize.
Posted by: terry coon at November 10, 2007 10:08 PM
I am currently not concerned with tracking, however it has been revealed that that government tracks personal phone calls and other private matters in the USA. With the co-operation of the ISPs, this can become a dangerous practice.
Posted by: Tom at November 11, 2007 3:42 AM
Leo, you stated "...but there are apparently ways around this that allow the same kinds of information to still be collected." What are the techniques used? Or what do you think they are using?
Posted by: Chuck Newman at November 13, 2007 7:37 AM
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
I've only heard it as a passing reference, but what I heard had to do with
advertiser-specific subdomains off of the parent domain. So something like
ads.somesite.com would still be allowed to place and fetch cookied information
if you allow somesite.com. As I said, my understanding is incomplete here.
Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at February 2, 2008 11:41 AM
I went into Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Privacy/Sites and found a lot of advertisers listed in the "blocked" box, several of them are in Cookies, so that means blocking these cookies is not working! I can't get rid of ad.yieldmanager, it keeps coming back. I went in Internet Options and blocked third party cookies and with first party cookies checked the "prompt" box. Now, I am getting so many messages asking me if I want to allow a Cookie, I check the "block" option and it takes clicking on that 3 or 4 times before the message disappears....
Posted by: Willa Cunningham at February 20, 2009 7:10 PM
Comments
Read the article that everyone's commenting on.
Subscribe to the RSS Feed for comments on this article.
While I'm not sure what you mean by 'disabling' cookies, I always go to Tools in Internet Explorer, then under Delete Browing History, I delete everything there that I can, including cookies. To date, I've haven't found doing that kept any sites from working afterward. I've also deleted cookies with AVG Anti-Spyware with no problem afterward with nonworking sites. BombayGranny
Posted by: Bombay Granny at November 4, 2007 9:19 AMTracking is simply not an issue for many. I run Firefox with the Adblock Plus and Permit Cookies add-ons. I rarely see online ads and all cookies from most sites are immediately removed when the browser session is closed. Further, my IP address is dynamically assigned by my ISP, changing each time my DSL modem logs in, making tracking difficult by IP address.
What I'd like to know, are there any viable alternatives to push advertising?
Posted by: Ray at November 4, 2007 10:16 AMDeleting all cookies deletes some that are useful, such as saved logon names so you don't have to enter them every time.
A better way is to use Karen Kenworthy's (www.karenware.com) free Cookie Viewer. Scan the list of cookies and delete any that you don't want. Any cookies that look like tracking cookies add it to the blocked cookies list in Internet Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Privacy/Sites. So that site can never again put a cookie on your computer.
Posted by: Ken Crook at November 10, 2007 9:29 PMI no longer allow CCleaner or other programs to clean out cookies. As long as everything is working OK it is just too much bother to start all over every month putting in my information in order to get another cookie. They are more useful than most users realize.
Posted by: terry coon at November 10, 2007 10:08 PMI am currently not concerned with tracking, however it has been revealed that that government tracks personal phone calls and other private matters in the USA. With the co-operation of the ISPs, this can become a dangerous practice.
Posted by: Tom at November 11, 2007 3:42 AMLeo, you stated "...but there are apparently ways around this that allow the same kinds of information to still be collected." What are the techniques used? Or what do you think they are using?
Posted by: Chuck Newman at November 13, 2007 7:37 AM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
I've only heard it as a passing reference, but what I heard had to do with
advertiser-specific subdomains off of the parent domain. So something like
ads.somesite.com would still be allowed to place and fetch cookied information
if you allow somesite.com. As I said, my understanding is incomplete here.
Leo
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
iD8DBQFHOhzrCMEe9B/8oqERAgnoAJ0TGKYG2wBWVTa5w39VzuqapCZsbQCfXBpR
Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at November 13, 2007 1:53 PMejmUsDqXqkSV6m3tqqqlQ5w=
=morJ
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
If I get a cookie while using Internet Explorer will it track the browsing that I do on my Firefox browser and vice-versa?
Posted by: Aaron Childs at January 30, 2008 12:11 PM-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1
Nope. The browsers keep separate cookie collections.
Leo
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)
iD8DBQFHpMeICMEe9B/8oqERAnsCAJ47sEahZCHP2cHqpRzpfgegJ6KKMACcCMgl
Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at February 2, 2008 11:41 AMT9g6DZ+4m3PAEasbPzuQT/Q=
=TyJt
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
I went into Explorer/Tools/Internet Options/Privacy/Sites and found a lot of advertisers listed in the "blocked" box, several of them are in Cookies, so that means blocking these cookies is not working! I can't get rid of ad.yieldmanager, it keeps coming back. I went in Internet Options and blocked third party cookies and with first party cookies checked the "prompt" box. Now, I am getting so many messages asking me if I want to allow a Cookie, I check the "block" option and it takes clicking on that 3 or 4 times before the message disappears....
Posted by: Willa Cunningham at February 20, 2009 7:10 PMTo post a comment on "Are you being tracked online?", please return to that article's main page.