confused about hosts file

[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

[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

[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