"Tracking" Cookies in Anti-Spyware Applications
posted Wednesday, February 23, 2005 12:07 PM by stevedod
As a user of many anti-spyware applications over the years, one item has
always bothered me when removed by antispyware applications. That item is
"tracking" cookies. Many people in the industry know what cookies are, and
how they can be used, but I do not think my parents would know anything
about cookies. In my opinion, the industry has created a scare tactic in
order to make a "problem" seem worse than it really is. I see this a lot
when people are reporting that one program is better than another in respect
to cookies. I really do not see how someone can make that argument. I can
write a program which deletes n+1 files if I want until I reach a point
where there are no more files to delete.
So why is this a problem?? Users do not know what files are good or bad, and
therefore rely on the application to determine this for them. But if I am
the programmer for another application, I could delete all good and bad
files and then say... " We delete more files than Product X." The end user
then says... "Of course..I want the other product...more is better!!" These
users will then end up losing some settings which were never malicious in
the first place. This leads me to the last thought...
Cookies by themselves are not malicious; they are text files with settings.
Cookies can be a part of some application which calls on the text file in
order to send information to a 3rd party, but end the end, they are only
text files. In order for "tracking" cookies to be of use, a corresponding
application needs to be running in the background and grab information off
this file. I think this is where anti-spyware applications need to be
focusing their efforts - removal of the application which uses these text
files instead of blowing away all good and bad cookies.
I think the cookie argument will go on for a while, but as long as the end
user cannot discern what is good versus what is bad, the industry needs to
work on improving the logic of removing applications as opposed to deleting
all cookies.
--
Andre
Extended64 |
http://www.extended64.com
Blog |
http://www.extended64.com/blogs/andre
http://spaces.msn.com/members/adacosta
FAQ for MS AntiSpy
http://www.geocities.com/marfer_mvp/FAQ_MSantispy.htm