cross domain tracking, cookies and trusted sites

[gurner]

No real question here (should this be a tip?), just wanted to gauge an opinion, or hear a few rants about the staggering amount of cookie downloads on a huge amounts of sites, cross doamin adverts on sites, cross domain tracking or cookie downloads using a hidden link or whatever, an so on and on.

Not sure if i'm the only one, but i have things like my Host file updated every so often and protected, with entries for known ad sites in it as 127.0.0.1

My Mozilla, Firefox or IE is permanently stuck at 99% loaded for a lot of sites, because the hidden elements its got are being resolved to 127.0.0.1 (doesn't stop the geniune content tho)

and i also have cookie prompts on, and only Allow Session cookies for trusted sites such as Tek-Tips, e.t.c. (so they don't prompt everytime)

it drives other people that use my machine potty, but i am not the slightest bit bothered. is a concern when you go to sites like MSN and are prompted 15-20 times in a row from different domains somedays.

And 2 geniune email accounts for friends and trusted sites, and any of the many sites that demand an email address or whatever just to read a PDF or sign up or somrthing i use a 3rd spare 'Junk Repositry' address. Outlook mooves emails delivered to this account to a junk mail folder using a Rule (works perfect)

I regularily update SpyBot, AntiVirus e.t.c. and have had just, approx 2-3 'tracking' cookies in the course of a year.

Cheers

Gurner

 

[Dollie]

Try using Firefox with the Adblock extension.

Works great and eliminates a lot of cookies because the ads aren't loading at all. You can also use wildcards to block more commonly known ad hosts.

I only have issues with the cookies when my husband jumps on the computer and uses IE for his gaming.

 

[pmonett]

I'm with Dollie. I use Mozilla with Adblock, and my cookie permissions are generally set to Ask. I see the question only the first time I go to a site I have not been to before.
As for IE, I restrict my usage of it to sites that I know very well and have no other choice for (ie banking). If I happen upon a site that I do not know, and that site tries to force me to use IE (meaning, puts up a page that says "this site can only be viewed with IE"), then I put that site on my personal blacklist and never go back to it.

Despite all this, I still clean out my cookie folder every two months, and I always find a dozen or so unwanted crumbs in there.

Pascal.

 

[gurner]

glad i'm not the only to set mozilla to ask (all the browsers i use are set to)

use Mozilla at work as well (with the IE skin so anyone using it doesn't really notice)

fortunatly being in the IT department, downloads and ISA proxy settings are no issue

typing this reply shows an example of the host file in action, the page has loaded all tek-tips viewable content, but the progress bar is stuck on 99% Transferring data from 'itxt.vibrantmedia.com' but it doesn't stop me submitting this reply

Gurner

 

[pmonett]

That is something that I've always wondered about : what can they still be download a full minute after the page has loaded ?
As for itxt-dot-vibrantwhatever, I have long since banned them from my PC with the AdBlock extension.

Pascal.