Hi there,
I've noticed just recently that there appears to be five cookies on my computer which do not get affected when I use Crap Cleaner. Also my Internet Properties Privacy settings are set to block all first and third party cookies.
I only noticed after a Spy Sweeper run that it showed five cookies had been swept however it doesn't say what they were. I was also looking in Norton's log viewer at something else when I noticed that AOL seemed to be placing a cookie each time I logged on (surprise,surprise).This was visible in the privacy section of log viewer.
I manually change back to accepting cookies to come onto sites like this,does anyone know of an easier way of going about this. I frequently empty my cookies,history and files folder in I.E. as well as using Spybot's shredder and am curious as to how these cookies have been overlooked, I wonder when I have agreed to certain programs' Terms and Conditions if this has made them permanent. Is this possible ? Or can they be rooted out and removed or at the very least attributed too certain programs and located on my machine so that I atleast know who they belong too.
Running : Xp Home SP2, I.E.6, AOL 9, NAV2003 and Firewall, Spysweeper, Spybot, Adaware,Ewidi antiSpyware(not realtime) iespypad and Spyware Blaster.
I know that cookies are the more visible of intrusions that can be on MY computer and that there are lots of other nasties which are less obvious but I find it annoying that this is done. It is the equivalent of going into a store and buying something only to be followed out of that store and into every other place you visit. I could go on but I don't want to turn this into a political debate !!
Any thoughts and solutions to the above that don't involve sledgehammers or dropping my computer into the middle of the Atlantic would be appreciated, although on second thoughts the next boat leaves at midnight !!!

All the best
jbee

Hello jbee,

Since you are using IE, you may find this article about how to manage cookies in IE helpful:

http://www.microsoft.com/resources/documentation/windows/xp/all/proddocs/en-us/sec_cook.mspx?mfr=true

There are a number of readily available third-party applications (firewall, privacy, cleaning, cookie managers, etc) that can either block or remove cookies.

One effective way of blocking so-called tracking cookies is to refuse third-party cookies or block these cookies' domains with a Hosts file. The MVPS Hosts file already includes several tracking cookie domains:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

When your security software finds a new tracking cookie you can simply add that to the Hosts file.

Thanks for the quick response K027,
I'll look into those links that you have suggested.
It's getting quite late here so it won't be tonight.

Just one last thought though, I constantly use Crap Cleaner whilst surfing and this doesn't show any of these above mentioned 5 cookies as being deleted or even being there.If I look at CCleaner just now it shows CastleCop's cookie waiting to be deleted as expected as I have manually allowed cookies to sign in.
Other than the AOL one that shows up in Norton I can find no reference to them on my computer other than Spy Sweeper covering them in a check
but it doesn't highlight where they are.
Do you know if the hostsfile link will rewrite the hosts file and remove what is already in there or will it just add to it. Concerned that it will affect IEspypad or does it work in a different area/way.

Once again thanks for the reply

All the best

jbee

Check your Spy Sweeper log file. It should tell you exactly what it has deleted.

The MVPS Hosts file is just a text file. If you want to preserve existing Hosts files entries just manually add the MVPS Hosts file to your existing Hosts file instead of running the batch installation file.

IESpyad and a blocking Hosts file are similar but work differently. IESpyad works only with IE and IE-derived browsers and blocks specific web content from known "bad" web sites. The Hosts file works for all browsers and blocks all connections to known "bad" web sites.

Thanks for taking the time to answer K027 and mrsugg.

Spy Sweeper isn't necessarily showing the cookies as a problem.
When it sweeps it displays the areas it is set to cover, one such item is cookies to which in its completion it is showing 5 cookies. They are not been flagged as a problem just that they have been swept. But where are they ? The session log shows that a cookie sweep has been carried out and completed but no more.
At present I don't have the I.E tracking cookie shield on as this is how Spy Sweeper installed itself but I will switch it on and see what happens.

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In theory then the hosts files you've suggested will stop complete access to "bad sites" which sounds like a better solution than IE spypad. Do you think it would be a sensible idea to uninstall IE spypad if I installed the MPVS file or as I understand that too large a host file can affect browser speed. Something I think I recall reading in the instructions for IE spypad. I will try to look for some info on the whole host file situation as I know very little about it and forwarned is forarmed as they say. Do you know of a site which talks about this in basic non computer terminology as sometimes its the unfamiliarity with the words used which makes a subject seem even more complicated than it already is ?

Thanks once again for your time and advice.

jbee

It's not clear why you would uninstall IESpyad.

This will provide more information about using a blocking Hosts file:

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/

Thanks k027,
As you can probably tell I'm learning as I go along on this one. I think I may have incorrectly read what you said in an earlier post regarding IEspypad and a blocking host file being similar.

I've just had a brief scan of the link you gave, it seems to be right along the lines of what I need to begin to understand better what the Hosts file "actually" is and does.

Thankyou for your help and have a good weekend.

jbee