confused about hosts file

[Michael Walraven]

Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web address(seems
dumb to me).
I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and Settings\myname\cookies
Here I look up the name from the spytracker. Bring the text up for editing
and examine the contents.
In the contents is always the name of the server spy.cdfreaks.com for
instance.
Taking the base (cdfreaks.com) I go to IE7's internet properties / security
and select Restricted sites.
I then add the base address cdfreaks.com (it gets converted to
*.cdfreaks.com when it is inserted).
No more cookies from that site.
My hosts file is empty except for 'localhost'.
First few time thru your spytracker this is a real pain but no worse than
adding to hosts. Now my system stays clean with only a couple of new
tracking cookies per week.

Would like to see spytrackers offer to add the tracker site to the untrusted
sites list!

Michael

"louise" <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:4tse7jF15l0mkU1@mid.individual.net...
> I'm getting sick and tired of removing the same tracking cookies everytime
> I run an antispyware program.
>
> So I started looking at the host file at mvp.org. But the notes say that
> any hosts file larger than 135kb will slow down win XP. The MVP hosts
> file is almost 500 kb.
>
> What should one do? Might I just add the things that are consistently
> picked up in my antispyware? Is there a smaller hosts file that is still
> considered valuable?
>
> I'm running FF 2.0 about 95% of the time with noscript and adblockplus -
> but I still collect all these tracking cookies.....
>
> Help?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Louise

[Steve]

Michael Walraven wrote:
> Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
> My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web
> address(seems dumb to me).
> I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and
> Settings\myname\cookies Here I look up the name from the spytracker.

I use Karen's Cookie Viewer to run through cookies and copy/paste unwanted
web addresses across to hosts.
http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptcookie.asp

Set up the viewer to look for cookies on your whole drive and you can
control cookies on other PC accounts as well.

BTW Winpatrol contains a cookie filter that removes filters with specific
words in them (eg the filter 'hitbox' causes Winpatrol to automatically
remove any cookie that uses 'hitbox' in its URL).
http://www.winpatrol.com/

--
Steve

[Steve]

Steve wrote:

> BTW Winpatrol contains a cookie filter that removes filters with
> specific words in them (eg the filter 'hitbox' causes Winpatrol to
> automatically remove any cookie that uses 'hitbox' in its URL).
> http://www.winpatrol.com/

That should have read 'removes cookies' not 'removes filters'.

[louise]

Steve wrote:
> Michael Walraven wrote:
>> Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
>> My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web
>> address(seems dumb to me).
>> I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and
>> Settings\myname\cookies Here I look up the name from the spytracker.
>
> I use Karen's Cookie Viewer to run through cookies and copy/paste unwanted
> web addresses across to hosts.
> http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptcookie.asp
>
> Set up the viewer to look for cookies on your whole drive and you can
> control cookies on other PC accounts as well.
>
> BTW Winpatrol contains a cookie filter that removes filters with specific
> words in them (eg the filter 'hitbox' causes Winpatrol to automatically
> remove any cookie that uses 'hitbox' in its URL).
> http://www.winpatrol.com/
>
> --
> Steve
>
>
Funny......I set FF to notify me whenever a site wants to
set a cookie.

Then I went to look at Karen's Cookie Viewer - it refused to
load the page when I denied the cookie and I had to accept
the cookie to even look at the site.

Louise

[Steve]

louise wrote:
> Steve wrote:
>> Michael Walraven wrote:
>>> Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
>>> My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web
>>> address(seems dumb to me).
>>> I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and
>>> Settings\myname\cookies Here I look up the name from the spytracker.
>>
>> I use Karen's Cookie Viewer to run through cookies and copy/paste
>> unwanted web addresses across to hosts.
>> http://www.karenware.com/powertools/ptcookie.asp
>>
>> Set up the viewer to look for cookies on your whole drive and you can
>> control cookies on other PC accounts as well.
>>
>> BTW Winpatrol contains a cookie filter that removes filters with
>> specific words in them (eg the filter 'hitbox' causes Winpatrol to
>> automatically remove any cookie that uses 'hitbox' in its URL).
>> http://www.winpatrol.com/
>>
>> --
>> Steve
>>
>>
> Funny......I set FF to notify me whenever a site wants to
> set a cookie.
>
> Then I went to look at Karen's Cookie Viewer - it refused to
> load the page when I denied the cookie and I had to accept
> the cookie to even look at the site.
>
> Louise

Funny ,,,,,,, I didn't know it was compulsory to use FF, which I found
useless on my PC. I don't like the browser bugging me every time the system
wants to set a cookie.

Logically, you do need a cookie on your PC (that's where they get stored) so
you can look at it!

--
Steve

[louise]

Michael Walraven wrote:
> Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
> My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web address(seems
> dumb to me).
> I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and Settings\myname\cookies
> Here I look up the name from the spytracker. Bring the text up for editing
> and examine the contents.
> In the contents is always the name of the server spy.cdfreaks.com for
> instance.
> Taking the base (cdfreaks.com) I go to IE7's internet properties / security
> and select Restricted sites.
> I then add the base address cdfreaks.com (it gets converted to
> *.cdfreaks.com when it is inserted).
> No more cookies from that site.
> My hosts file is empty except for 'localhost'.
> First few time thru your spytracker this is a real pain but no worse than
> adding to hosts. Now my system stays clean with only a couple of new
> tracking cookies per week.
>
> Would like to see spytrackers offer to add the tracker site to the untrusted
> sites list!
>
> Michael
>
> "louise" <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
> news:4tse7jF15l0mkU1@mid.individual.net...
>> I'm getting sick and tired of removing the same tracking cookies everytime
>> I run an antispyware program.
>>
>> So I started looking at the host file at mvp.org. But the notes say that
>> any hosts file larger than 135kb will slow down win XP. The MVP hosts
>> file is almost 500 kb.
>>
>> What should one do? Might I just add the things that are consistently
>> picked up in my antispyware? Is there a smaller hosts file that is still
>> considered valuable?
>>
>> I'm running FF 2.0 about 95% of the time with noscript and adblockplus -
>> but I still collect all these tracking cookies.....
>>
>> Help?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Louise
>
>
Do you find that a lot of sites insist upon setting cookies
or they wont load properly? That has always been my concern.

Louise

[Steve]

louise wrote:
>>
> Do you find that a lot of sites insist upon setting cookies
> or they wont load properly? That has always been my concern.
>
> Louise

If you tell FF to delete cookies, what do you expect! Try changing your
method of managing cookies.

--
Steve

[rjdriver]

"louise" <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
news:4tv07pF15upbhU2@mid.individual.net...
> Michael Walraven wrote:
>> Currently using IE7 (but worked with IE6 also)
>> My spytracker gives me the name of the cookie but not the web
>> address(seems dumb to me).
>> I take the name given and go to c:\Documents and Settings\myname\cookies
>> Here I look up the name from the spytracker. Bring the text up for
>> editing and examine the contents.
>> In the contents is always the name of the server spy.cdfreaks.com for
>> instance.
>> Taking the base (cdfreaks.com) I go to IE7's internet properties /
>> security and select Restricted sites.
>> I then add the base address cdfreaks.com (it gets converted to
>> *.cdfreaks.com when it is inserted).
>> No more cookies from that site.
>> My hosts file is empty except for 'localhost'.
>> First few time thru your spytracker this is a real pain but no worse than
>> adding to hosts. Now my system stays clean with only a couple of new
>> tracking cookies per week.
>>
>> Would like to see spytrackers offer to add the tracker site to the
>> untrusted sites list!
>>
>> Michael
>>
>> "louise" <louise@invalid.invalid> wrote in message
>> news:4tse7jF15l0mkU1@mid.individual.net...
>>> I'm getting sick and tired of removing the same tracking cookies
>>> everytime I run an antispyware program.
>>>
>>> So I started looking at the host file at mvp.org. But the notes say
>>> that any hosts file larger than 135kb will slow down win XP. The MVP
>>> hosts file is almost 500 kb.
>>>
>>> What should one do? Might I just add the things that are consistently
>>> picked up in my antispyware? Is there a smaller hosts file that is
>>> still considered valuable?
>>>
>>> I'm running FF 2.0 about 95% of the time with noscript and adblockplus -
>>> but I still collect all these tracking cookies.....
>>>
>>> Help?
>>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> Louise
>>
>>
> Do you find that a lot of sites insist upon setting cookies or they wont
> load properly? That has always been my concern.
>
> Louise

I have had my browser set to prompt for cookie acceptance for 7 years.
It was a pain at first, but now I rarely see the prompt.. It's just become
a part of my security routine. In all that time, I have never encountered a
site that didn't load "properly" without the cookie, and only 2 or 3 that
would not load at all without it. This is not including online stores.
Buying products online will almost always require a cookie. But just for
viewing the site, very few make it mandatory.

Bob