by Tina Z. Velgos

Since writing "Cookies from Hell", I've received plenty of letters. Most of you express a similar distaste for these invasive privacy snatchers. You asked for more recommendations on zapping these hellish cookies. Here's what I found.

Pretty Good Privacy's PGPcookie.cutter has a price-tag, but word is it's pretty good at what it claims to do--protect your privacy! Available for Mac and Windows, PGPcookie.cutter retails for $19.95. Check out http://www.pgp.com for more information.

For Windows users, check out ZDNet's CookieMaster. Compatible with Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer, you can download it free at http://www.zdnet.com

For Macintosh/Navigator users, you can easily undo a cookie. To undo the "Accept a Cookie" option while in Netscape, go to Options then pull it down to Network Preferences. From there, go to Protocols and you can undo the "Accept a Cookie".

Here's a trick we've found for Macintosh computers which I think confuses cookies to the point of no return.While going through your Hard Drive, open the folder called Netscape. Make a new folder then take the folder called Magic Cookie and copy the name. Throw the real Magic Cookie folder in the Trash, then find the newly created untitled folder and name it Magic Cookie and put it into your Netscape folder.From here on, we think that you can choose to "Accept a Cookie" and yet, the site using the cookies will be unable to get information on you.

Check out Cookie Central's Cookie Software page at http://www.cookiecentral.com/files.htm

Also, Yahoo has a great "Persistent Cookies" page of URLs, including a special section on Javascript cookies. Go to http://www.yahoo.com/Computers_and_Internet/Internet/World_Wide_Web/HTTP/Protocol_Specification/Persistent_Cookies/

Cookie Cutter 1.0 (for Macintosh) is available to download at Scott's Freeware for Mac, http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/2784/

Cookie Monster 1.5.1 (for Macintosh, supports Microsoft Internet Explorer) is e-mail-ware (not Public Domain) and available (also, as a Stuffit archive) at http://www.geocities.com/Paries/1778/monster.html

For an "official" Netscape description of HTTP Cookies, go to http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html

Here's a sample of some of the letters I've received on these hellish 
cookies.

From: Steve
Subject: Nasty Cookies & JAVA

Dear Tina,

I fully agree with your "Cookies from Hell" page. I am looking for
Cookie Editors, supressors and killers for PCs running WFW3.11, Win95
and NT. Can you help me find some URLs? I am sick of saying NO to the
Netscape prompt too. Also I understand that JAVA has the ability to dig
even deeper into our machines and grab anything it wants as well as
planting any code or virus, do you have any information about what it
can do under the covers and how to detect and stop it? You may want to
check into it and add a "JAVA from Hell" page too.

I bookmarked your page and will check out your reviews soon, too bad
your stuff for kids was not there years ago, my daughter is 21 now.

Thanks Very Much!

Steve

****

Dear Tina,

I think it is misguided---read the IETF draft/spec on cookies to find
out why.  The point is that any user can "turn off" cookies simply by
making the cookies file non-world-writeable.  (I believe Netscape 4.0
has an option to disable cookies and to control which hosts can get
them, but I am not sure.)  A bottom-up solution exists---doubleclick
can try to track me as much as it wants, but as long as my cookies file
is not writeable, it can't do much.

BTW, more information about you can be gleaned from your credit card
usage than through cookies.

--Ram


****

Hi Tina-

Thanks for the informative article on Web cookies. That IS outrageous.

Immediately upon finishing my reading I went straight to
www.shareware.com to look for the four progs you mentioned -
C. Monster, C. Cutter, Kill the C, and No More Cs.   Nothing came up
in the searches.  Where are these stored, may I ask?

Anton

****

Re: Cookie Information

Hello Tina:


Here's a Cookie Tidbit that you may be interested in.

It's a Site where you can get a Perl Script to install into your Unix
Shell Account (if you have a Shell Account on your ISP), which acts like
a "Front End" that process the stuff that goes to and from your Web
Browser, and which does two wonderful things for you:

1. Automatically manages Cookies for you, i.e., you can set Preferences
to only allow Cookies to/from the Sites that you want to, or disallow
Cookies altogether, and never have to deal with the Cookie Warning
again.

2. Automatically manages the HTML Information that is transmitted to a
Site in the "Get" and "Post" Commands - you can block most of this Info
from being sent at all.

This is how my Email Address was transmitted, i.e, although the newer
Web Browsers say that they don't transmit your Email Address to Sites,
what that means is they don't transmit the HTTP_FROM, but they do still
transmit the REMOTE_HOST, and depending on the ISP you are on, that can
also contain your Email Address.

I'm experimenting with it now - the Cookie part works great - I still
have to experiment with the HTML part - but I think that'll work ok too.

The Utility is called "Cookie Jar", and the Site is:

http://www.lne.com:80/ericm/cookie_jar/

Bill

For more of Tina's in-depth reviews on software, hardware and computer stuff, be sure to visit The REVIEW ZONE.
http://www.TheReviewZone.com

---

Back to Pandora's Toybox Main Page