Summary: Cookies are used by websites to place data on your computer that they can access when you visit again. IE uses your name to keep track of your cookies.
When I delete cookies on my computer I noticed my name is on them. Do other websites I visit see my name on the cookies they place on my computer? And how would I change my name for security and privacy concerns if this is the case? For example, If I visit the IRS website, I am not happy that they would have my name and know everything I visited. I know I could visit through another website where my id would be hidden, but that's a pain in the neck. I would think when I first register a new Microsoft Windows this is when my name gets listed onto my internal cookies.
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I can't speak for what goes on inside a cookie - if you give your name to a site, then that site could easily store that in a cookie so that it can address you by name when you return.
But I don't think that's what you're asking about.
I'll bet that looking at cookies in Internet Explorer is what has you concerned.
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In IE, click on Tools, then Internet Options, then the General tab, and in the "Browsing History" section click on Settings. Once there, click on View Files and you'll get a window much like this:
(You may need to re-sort, or scroll the list to see cookies, as other temporary files are stored there as well.)
As you can see, my cookies appear to include my name.
But also notice what you're looking at: a listing of files. In fact, my name is included only on the filename that contains the cookie. When the browser picks up the cookie and sends it on to whatever site is appropriate to send it to, the file name is not part of what's sent. Only the contents of the file containing the cookie is sent.
Where'd the name come from? That's your Windows login name. I happen to login as as LeoN (a holdover from my days at Microsoft where my login name was also "leon"), so that's the name that IE pre-pends to the cookie filename to identify it.
I'm actually not aware of a way to change it. You could create a new Windows login account, I suppose, and start over, but that seems rather extreme.
But as to the underlying concern: this is not something that the sites you visit ever see. It's simply a part of Internet Explorer's internal housekeeping. And in fact if you look at cookies stored by another browser, such as Firefox, you'll find that they're stored - and named - in a completely different way.
Related:
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How do I delete cookies? And just what are cookies, anyway? Deleting cookies is an easy task. Whether it's absolutely necessary or not is another matter.
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How do I view what cookies I have, and which are safe to delete? Anti-spyware programs often list cookies as suspect without much explanation. We'll look at how to find out a little more, and what to do. Or not.
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Why does my anti-spyware program keep reporting the same cookies? Many anti-spyware programs repeatedly report cookie or tracking cookie issues. Are those spyware? Maybe. Maybe not. Some thoughts on what to do.
Article C3697 - April 10, 2009
Get WinPatrol. Set it to delete any cookie with yourname@ in it. All get deleted
Posted by: John Williams at April 14, 2009 10:36 AM