Turn Off Third Party Cookies - They're BAD

[firetrucker]

In "Trouble With The Foum", I noticed that one of Lady RVs recommendations was to accept third party cookies. Third party ad/image providers can see their own cookies when you go to different pages that have their ads. That means that they can track your usage on the Internet and target you. Cookies can contain all sorts of information about you, including phone numbers. These third party people don't have the same privacy restraints as the people whose page you go to. Remember, they're there to make money, any way they can, including selling your information to everyone else.

I have always blocked third party cookies, and I have never seen it affect my surfing.

Third party cookies are BAD...turn them off.

Bob

[Glenn and Lorraine]

I block NO cookies at all, including 3rd party, and in nearly 10 years of surfing the WWW I have had NO, ZERO, ZILCH, NADA, NONE problems.

Cookies can garner NO personal information about you other than the personal information that you yourself put into the internet. If you put any personal info into any UNencrypted site than you could be asking for trouble. Even your email should not be posted. Basic info such as your home city, state, hobbies, etc won't hurt you. Personal info such as Email, Phone #, SS #, Savings/Checking acct # could cause massive headaches on your part.

Get yourself a good program such as Norton and use it faithfully and get on with surfing without worries.

[noneck]

Just my 1 cent. Norton AV combined with a good firewall program is a "must" these days...it also helps to set yourself up with a Router (not a HUB) to glean some of its basic NAT protection. If you go wireless, make sure you enable the maxium password length WEP key. When you do all that your not quite done...you have to be on your toe's making sure your surfing doesn't get you sucked into a hijacker's world, these are pop-ups that try to lull ya into clicking on the wrong button and its not always obvious which button that is! Norton has a full package too, gives you AV, Firewall, Popup blocker, and some extra's. Sorry, for the rambling but you can happily experience the web and email but know the signs of a scam and if in doubt delete it or avoid it. If its an email, and is ligit the person will contact you another way to let you know who they are and what they are communicating to you...
Be safe,
Chuck

[Countryfolks]

Use WPA, not WEP. WPA is significantly more secure [WPA-AES is probably the best for most folks], Wep can be "cracked" in as little as 2-3 minutes or less. Don't use any words found in any dictionary for passwords or any personal info for your passwords. Try to use at least 10 characters, including two numbers, two capital letters and two characters such as ? / < > etc.

Skip

[noneck]

Haaaa, so there's the other 1 cent! Which means I now have an excuse to buy a new router...
Thanks,
Chuck

[firetrucker]

Norton and firewalls have nothing to do with cookies. Cookies are an integral part of the World Wide Web operation and are handled exclusively by your browser. They are data, not programs, viruses, worms, trojan horses, etc. They are tokens that sites use to identify you and how you are interacting with them. I prefer not to let third party operations like double click develop a profile of me, whether it's anonymous or not. And, in some limited circumstances, cookies can be the key to attacks on your system and your personal information.

To quote Steve Gibson, a well-known security expert: "Third-party cookies are a problem because they allow centralized Internet advertisers to track your movements around the Internet to develop a profile of you and your web surfing history and habits. There's just no good reason to ever allow sites and servers you don't intentionally visit to plant cookies onto your computer."

Some people may call me paranoid, but I think I have every right to be, as we all do.

For more information on cookies, check it out on Wikipedia or at www.grc.com/cookies.htm

Bob

[Countryfolks]

I agree with you 100% Bob. I never allow 3rd party cookies. In fact, I allow very few cookies at all.

Skip

[sreigle]

I do too, Bob. While I don't think there's much potential for computer damage from the cookies, I've read too much about third party cookies to be comfortable allowing them. I have read quite a bit in the past from and about Steve Gibson and GRC (I think that's right) and have a great deal of respect for his opinion.

For those not familiar with Steve Gibson, go to www.grc.com and read up on him and then have his ShieldsUP site try to break into your system. It will tell you where you are vulnerable. I haven't been there in awhile but know he used to say ZoneAlarm is the best software firewall around and it is free. It's what I'm running. This has nothing to do with cookies but is of related security and protection interest. A hardware router with firewall is an excellent choice, too.

[Okie Guy]

Third party cookies are no good. Trust me I work in Media(oxymoron). Advertisers will use everything they can to track, target and get your attention. I highly reccoment getting spy sweeper installed on your computer. It found things which norton didn't even blink at when they passed through.

Phil

[rlrich]

I run Spybot Search & Destroy (free program) every couple days. It's amazing how much junk gets deposited on our computers from some websites.

http://www.spybot.info/en/home/index.html