Re: [SG] web cookies (long) was: spam

Connie,

Every day when I boot up, I go to my cookie file (on my box, it's
C:/windows/cookies) and delete any that I don't want to keep.  Generally, I
refuse cookies as a matter of course - have my browser set to ask;
annoying, but also interesting, as you see just which sites are trying to
set a cookie for every little graphic or what not.  Some totally arrogant
sites will not work properly if you don't accept (those are sites I avoid
on general principles - Microsoft is a prime example) and if you want to
buy online, you have to accept them or the shopping cart won't work right.

Cookies are simply tracking devices.   Primary use is to see how many
unique visits a page is getting so a site can either sell advertising based
upon "clicks" or whatever, or so it can tell which parts of a site are the
most popular and which are not being visited.  Cookies are used to develop
server "stats"...very important for those who spend their time working on
web sites because, otherwise, they only have raw server data (harder to
digest and read) to determine if the site is being visited.  The web is a
bit like outer space....you just have no idea what's happening out there in
the black hole unless there's some way to track it - people don't tell you;
thus no way to tell if you need to change things or what to improve your
site...and, of course, in the case of sites that advertise heavily, no way
to convince advertisers that they should plunk down their cash because a
lot of people visit and will see the adds.

Secondary use of cookies is on sites with shopping carts as they are used
to track the items you want to buy and that you add to your "shopping
basket" and let you go back and forth between pages on the site without
having to start over each time. Each page on a web site is a separate file
with a separate web address and no real connection between it and another
one except that they are located in the same directory on the web server.
They may seem related to us viewers, but they really are only files on a
computer somewhere.  Cookies provide the relation needed to permit keeping
items on a pick list while going back and forth to different pages.

Cookies can also be used to gather additional data, but it is mainly your
browser type, IP address, date, time and the URL of the page you are
visiting.  Most spam is generated by trolling robot programs looking for
email addresses on news groups and any lists without some kind of spam
filter on the server, not cookies set on web sites.

Cookies don't take up a lot of room on your had disk if you aren't short on
space, but there's no reason to keep most of them...some you may want to
keep for your own convenience.

I also delete my history file and my temp internet files daily.  I do this
to save on disk space because I am getting really tight in that dept.  It
does absolutely no harm to anything.  All these are simply files.  They do
not act on or affect your computer's operation in any basic way.  They only
affect how your browser operates under some circumstances when it tries to
open a particular web page.

People ought to get in the habit of looking at these directories
periodically - if you surf around a lot, you can add 6 or 7 MB to your disk
daily....mounts up over time.

The only downside on deleting temp internet files is that sites will load
more slowly as the call has to go to the site server for all the graphics,
etc., instead of your own hard drive.

The only reason to keep a cookie is if you have joined a site and want to
use it without having to log in all the time.

Most cookies are site internal.  In otherwords, the site sets them to track
where you go on that particular site and they don't transfer to other
sites.  Some, however, are not and if you set your browser to notify you
before accepting and read the cookie information in the little window that
pops up, it will tell you which are internal to the site and which can be
used by other sites - mostly these would be related to the original site in
some way, if only that they are using banner adds by the same banner add
co.  Link Exchange is notorious for setting cookies for every banner and
those cookies can be read by any other site using a Link Exchange banner.

So, delete away.....

Marge

Marge Talt, zone 7 Maryland
mtalt@clark.net
Editor:  Gardening in Shade
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----------
> From: Connie Hoy <coneh@USWEST.NET>
> Date: Wednesday, February 10, 1999 10:03 PM
>
> Good suggestion Pottsey but I have long since('ask me first mode') done
> that,however I am encountering many sites which will not let me in
without the
> cookies...I just want to remove them as there has to be a jillion by now
and
> would rather not clutter up my hard drive with 'em...Anybody know how to
do this
> without any harm done?
> Thanks.
> Connie
>
>
> venies.place wrote:
>
> > Connie,
> >
> > I use Internet Explorer and here is how you can change your "cookies"
> > option:
> >
> > Go to the IE, click on view, then Internet option, which is at the
bottom of
> > the list.  Click on the Advanced tab, then scroll down to cookies.
Then,
> > change your cookie option to what you want.
> >
> > Pottsey
> > zone5
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