About tracking cookies

kah22

I was having a problem dealing with malware textsrv.com and wrote to Which? to ask their advice. (I subscribe to Which? Computing and Which? Gardening and this is one of the perks you can ask their experts.)
Anyway they replied and advised me to

“Run a scan with your MSE and supplement that with www.superantispyware.com - click on Free Edition download - this is a great program and will pick up lots of stuff other security programs miss. It will run alongside Anti-virus programs.

Firstly I would recommend removing any toolbars or extensions that you have on your Internet browser. You can find these in firefox by going to Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions
Internet Explorer Tools -> Manage Add-ons”

I did all that and right enough that annoying text box ad seems to have gone :j However, the superantispyware software came up with 381 tracking objects but offered the advice that while not harmful they may track surfing and other activity.

While I do appreciate that legitimate sites like Which? and Moneysavingexpert use cookies for legitimate purposes I’m wondering about other less legitimate ones. So question how do I go about deciding which, if any, of these cookies should I remove. Or is it safe enough to leave them all there. I’m assuming that if I were to delete them then when I’d come back to the site they would automatically reinstall themselves.

Hopefully if any of the members reading this post has the same problem that Which? advice will be useful to them.

closed

delete the lot, install ghostery(set it to block everything under options), block 3rd party cookies in your browser (IE, tools, internet options, 3rd party, privacy, advanced)

Avast free and malwarebytes free might be a better choice of AV protection

the browser can be set to delete cookies/temp files on exit, or you could you ccleaner at bootup if you want to be selective.

-TangleFoot-

closed wrote: »

block 3rd party cookies in your browser

Note: this may prevent you from using a few things, such as those little +1 buttons Google uses.

debitcardmayhem

-TangleFoot- wrote: »

Note: this may prevent you from using a few things, such as those little +1 buttons Google uses.

Must try it (not that I use the +1 spyware )

esuhl

If you delete all your cookies, any websites you go to that require you to be "logged in" will prompt you to enter your log in details the next time you visit. But, so long as you know your log in details (or can have them reset if you don't), this isn't a problem. Personally I set my browser to delete all cookies and cache files when I close it.

There are some useful browser add-ons that can help block tracking/advertising cookies. Do a web search for "Adblock Plus" and "DoNotTrackPlus"... The first is designed to block advertisements (but in doing so can block the advertisers from setting cookies). You can also set it to block known malware domains, which is pretty useful. The latter prevents you from being tracked by certain advertising companies.

Trillionaire

I have to admit this is definately why I use Firefox. I don't allow 3rd party cookies and I've ticked the box that says to ask me everytime someone wants to add a cookie. Tools - options - privacy.