Windows 7 - Cookies from websites.

So my browsers cookie's folder contains ones from a lot of different websites that i've never even visited before. Im using firefox 3.6.8. I never have any problems surfing and my laptop is running great. The cookie's folder mostly has .coms and only a few that start with www. ,, xgraph.net , zedo.com Really random stuff. I have my browser setting now to remove all cookie's everytime I close the browser so its better secured now. Are cookie's something that you would want to know a lot about? Any comments and thoughts would be great.

Not really IF you have a firewall and antivirus and you dont go to bad web sites. You may also want to have a malware app to run weekly scans for them.


ken

Hello novice and welcome to the Forum. This article will give you some more info about cookies:

What Are Computer Cookies?

Those unknown cookies are most likely 3rd party cookies. Let's say you visit a website that accepts advertising from other companies. Those other companies (3rd parties) can also place cookies on your machine.

But there's another type of cookie called a Flash Cookie that really could pose a security issue. This thread should be mandatory reading:

Flash Cookies

Those unknown cookies might have been placed on your pc by ads and banners... If you practice safe browsing habits, no worries.. Just delete them and also do some scans with your security apps as previous members said.

Did you un-tick third party cookies in Firefox's privacy controls?

A lot of those additional cookies you saw would be set by adverts on websites to track your browsing habits (for marketers to review.)

On my own computer I have it set to only accept cookies from a specific list of web-sites, all other web-sites cannot set a cookie. However, on machines I administer, I set them to accept first party cookies, ignore third party cookies and wipe stored cookies on exit from the browser.

Firefox has updated to 3.6.12 now, you should update it.

Thanks a lot everyone for the feedback. I like to know the details behind everything. Using firefox's browser tools and options, and you can really see how the a lot of the internet works. My favorite add on for firefox is NoScripts. Which is awesome, but way off the topic for this thread. Well all the feedback is well recieved!

Don't be a stranger on the Forum. There's a wealth of information here and some pretty fine folks.