On 09.07.11, In Each time you log onto this Web site, and most popular sites, you are inviting in the, “Cookie Monster.” Banish him at will and rid your hard drive of continuous, spying, “Cookies”.
Image via Wikipedia
Your joshing me right? There ain’t no cookies in my computer!
I’m not talking Chocolate Macadamia Fudge Nut. “Cookie,” is computer speak for tiny, little computer program files that are bombing your computer’s hard-drive, now. Most Web sites use them. The flash panel announcing Paris Hilton’s latest frolic in Kaboodle, is a flash file – one type of cookie. As you read these words now about five have downloaded.
What’s The Freaking Monster Doing?
As was said, most Web sites, this one included use them as spry little tools tracking how many hits or views your precious prosody had. It’s how we get paid. The wee things fly at you computer for several reasons:
- Tracking views for Zwinky, or adverts on the page
- Flashing stuff for glee; e.g Zwinky interactive game
- Straight counting and monitoring of tastes; what type of things you are interested in and how often.
Insidious!Yes, he is a shocker, but cute. He is just a slightly harmless purple monster. This is how you take direct action to prevent your hard-drive choking full, like a cookie jar, to the brim.
Image via Wikipedia
RecognizeCookie Types
- Session cookies – Cleansed off your computer when you log off the Internet
- Non-session cookies – They choke your machine gathering the much needed statistics for marketing
- Flash panels – These cannot be blocked. A type of session cookie advertising, say, in your email inbox.
Smack! Smack! Not in There That’s Private!These constantly downloading files, as you read any Web site, are considered a Privacy Invasion Downunder. On your computer you have a tool that crumbles cookies. It is up to you to smack that furry-monster’s purple paw and galvanise your drive against the milliard cookie downloads.
Here Is How.In Internet Explorer 7.0 - Open, Internet Explorer- Select, Internet Options, from the, Tools, Menu- You will see a slider indicating Security Level. Usually Medium.- Select, Privacy- Uncheck, Over-ride Automatic Cookie Handling- Manually choose your own cookie options; Allow, Deny or Notify Choosing, Notify Option, means you will be prompted, as you surf, as to which cookies and their attributes, are coming into your computer.
WARNING. Attempt this only if you are computer savvy, as most cookies, being harmless can be handled on automatic.
ConclusionThis article was about awareness of the many tiny files bombing your computer each time you log-on. Rarely are cookies toxic but some may be Trojan Horse files…that’s another story. By-and-large cookies are used to benign ends. This guide simply draws your attention putting you in control.
Last But Not Least…Protecting yourself against the Computing Cookie Monster is simple. Use only a public computer for all your creative expression. That is the only way to protect your computer at home from unwanted, tiny program files and the monster who craves them.
I know, every time I check for cookies , I see hundreds of them from a whole bunch of different sites. I try deleting them, clearing out history, and cleaning my computer, but I don’t know how good is all of that.
Statements such as “bombing your computer’s hard-drive” and
“prevent your hard-drive choking full” are inaccurate and misleading. I recently summed the number of bytes that cookies take up on my hard drive and the total was a half megabyte. Unless you’re working off of floppy drives, cookies are taking an insignificant amount of hard drive space.
Further, most tracking cookies are written to the hard drive once, not on every visit.
The phrases ‘rid your hard drive of continuous, spying, “Cookies” and “Rarely are cookies toxic but some may be Trojan Horse files” are also misleading. Cookies don’t spy. Cookies are text. They are not executable programs or trojan horses and therefore cannot spy on what you are doing.