ARE THE COOKIES WATCHING YOU?
1.WHAT'S A COOKIE? IT'S A LITTLE FILE THAT THE SERVER OF A WEB-SITE PUTS IN YOUR COMPUTER'S MEMORY WHEN YOU VISIT HIS SITE.
2. WHAT DOES A COOKIE DO? IT TELLS THE SERVER WHAT PARTS OF HIS WEB-SITE YOU ARE VISITING; IF YOU RETURN TO HIS WEB-SITE, HE CAN TRACK YOU FROM THE COOKIE HE GAVE YOU PREVIOUSLY.
3. WHO USES COOKIES? THE OWNER OF A WEB-SITE AND OFTEN ALL OR MOST OF THOSE WHO ADVERTISE ON HIS SITE. INDIVIDUALS DON'T OFTEN USE COOKIES; COMPANIES DO. IT IS NOT UNUSUAL TO RECEIVE 4 TO 6 COOKIES FROM ONE WEB-SITE. SOME SITES WILL SEND YOU MAYBE 15 COOKIES EVEN THOUGH YOU MAY HAVE JUST VISITED FOR A FEW SECONDS. MOST COOKIES COME FLYING IN RIGHT AT THE FRONT OF A WEB-SITE - BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN READ A FEW LINES.
4. HOW MUCH SPACE DO THESE COOKIES USURP? A COOKIE CAN TAKE UP TO 4KB OF SPACE. EACH UNIQUE SERVER IS LIMITED TO 20 COOKIES. BY AGREEMENT THE NUMBER OF COOKIES IN ANY PARTICULAR BROWSER'S FILES ARE 300. IF YOU USE TWO OR THREE DIFFERENT BROWSERS, THEN THEY EACH COULD HOLD 1.2MB OF COOKIE FILES. ONCE A BROWSER'S COOKIE FILES REACH 300, THE OLDEST ARE ELIMINATED AND THE NEWEST TAKE THEIR PLACE.
5. MOST BROWSER'S WILL LET YOU BLOCK COOKIES OR WARN YOU UPON THEIR ARRIVAL. FOR INSTANCE, WITH INTERNET EXPLORER V3.X AND V4.X, FROM THE ADVANCED TAB IN THE [INTERNET]OPTIONS SELECTION [VIEW MENU] CHECK THE BOX THAT SAYS "WARN/PROMPT BEFORE ACCEPTING COOKIES".FOR INTERNET EXPLORER V5.X, FROM THE SECURITY TAB, CHECK THE BOX THAT DISABLES OR PROMPTS BEFORE ACCEPTING/REJECTING COOKIES. FOR NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR V4.X, FROM THE PREFERENCES CHOICE ON THE EDIT MENU, SELECT THE "ADVANCED" CHOICE FROM WHERE YOU CAN DISABLE COOKIES OR SELECT WARN BEFORE ACCEPTING THEM. FOR NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR V3.X, FROM THE OPTIONS MENU, SELECT NETWORK PREFERENCES AND THEN THE PROTOCOLS TAB. FROM THERE CHECK THE BOX WHICH WILL SEND AN ALERT BEFORE ACCEPTING COOKIES.
6. ANTI-COOKIE SOFTWARE: THERE ARE SEVERAL PROGRAMS FREELY AVAILABLE ON THE WWW [SUCH AS COOKIE MONSTER] DESIGNED TO TRACK COOKIES AND REMOVE EXISTING COOKIES RESIDING ON YOUR BROWSER.
7. MANUAL SOLUTIONS: THE CONTENTS OF EXISTING COOKIE FILES ON YOUR SYSTEM CAN BE DELETED/CORRUPTED AND THEIR PROPERTIES SET TO "READ ONLY".
SUMMARY: COOKIES ARE PRIMARILY A MARKETING TOOL USED FOR COMMERCIAL PURPOSES. THERE IS LOTS OF WEB ADVERTISING WITH PLANS FOR MORE; THIS WILL JUST INCREASE THE USE OF COOKIES. WITH A FEW SIMPLE STEPS, YOU CAN CONTROL AT LEAST SOME OF THEIR IMPACT ON YOUR COMPUTER SYSTEM.

WHO IS THE COOKIE KING?

IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO PCWORLD'S TIPWORLD AND READ THEIR ARTICLES, THE COOKIES THEY SEND REGULARLY EXCEED 10 FOR ANY ONE ARTICLE. I HAVE COUNTED UP TO 15 COOKIES. SO AS OF NOW THEY HOLD THE TITLE OF "COOKIE KING". IF YOU KNOW OF A WEB SERVER THAT CAN BEAT THIS, PLEASE SEND IN THE URL AND A NEW COOKIE KING WILL TAKE THE CROWN.

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