advice - deleting cookies

[JLB]

i run internet explorer and i pretty routinely delete temporary files under the internet options. my banking web site indicated to do so. but i don't often delete cookies. is deleting cookies something that i should do regularly?

 

[jacep]

I use a program that automatically deletes my cookies and temporary internet files everytime I log onto my PC. I can also specify which cookies to not delete. If you delete your banking website's cookies (or other websites), things like "remember me" will not work.

 

[metoo4]

Cookies can be a lots of things and, while legit sites might not do anything bad with them, some "not-so-legit might like them, and spyware might start reading them and redirect them elsewhere... And also, there's the "onsite privacy" issue where anybody who have access to your PC can see these cookies and therefore, see where you went browsing!

One single cookie might not be any use to a hacker but, collecting a bunch of cookies and correlating whatever they contain could potentially allow somebody to know a lot of things about somebody else...

I clear all my internet files manually and also have a "shredder" program who permanently obliterate any data I delete from the "recycling bin", by overwriting bunch of bogus stuff over it 5-6 times. It's then "no more", unless somebody really want to put time and money into recovering it...

 

[hornypilgrim]

just run firefox, set option to delete all cookies on browser exit, and you won't have to think about it again.

 

[jacep]

I found the program referenced in my post above while reading the Toronto board, http://www.ccleaner.com/

You can set it to automatically delete all temporary files and delete all cookies except certain website cookies, etc. everytime you log onto your PC. You can also set it to shred your files in your recycle bin where they can't be recovered/undeleted.