tracking cookies

[Bernard]

I notice that MSAS does not pick up tracking cookies.

I am not sure if this is a bad thing or not, any comments please?

 

[Guest]

I think it's definetly a threat since it track user's
behavior when you visit website, so the next time you
visit the site it will have a different ads each time you
visit the website. So each time you visit the website it
will have different ads that will match your website
preference/behavior for example if you like
electronics/games they would probably put a electronice
ads to attract you and when you click that ads it will
redirect you to a 3rd party website. Who knows maybe the
next time you visit that site again they might put
spyware and adware since they know you visit the website
or when you click that ads the 3rd party website might
have spyware/adware

ATTENTION MSAS USERS: If you really want tracking cookie
feature to be added on the next version please consider
posting that you would like to add tracking cookie on
MSAS. So microsoft will have a 2nd opinion, right now
there confuse wether to add this features.

 

[Alan]

I've got a very simple solution to stop most tracking
cookies from even beign stored on your system. Set your
firewall's to block persistant cookies, web bugs, and
third-party cookies. Most tracking cookies are third-
party in nature, therefore blocking them will eliminate
almost all tracking cookies from your system.

However, tracking cookies are not as "bad" as some would
lead all to believe. First a little bit about what a
cookie is. A cookie is a text file that stores
something, such as your preferences to a site such as
google.com. They are of two distinct types, first-party
and third-party. First party cookies are from the host
domain of the URL that you are viewing, and third-party
cookies are from another domain that the page you are
viewing also uses. Contrary to what you might have been
told, only the originating host domain can view the
cookies it stores on your system. Any site using
advertising uses an advertiser who stores cookies on your
system as third-party cookies. Since many differnt host
domains use the same advertiser, then that advertiser can
track what sites you visit that use their server.
However they can't tell if you've visited a site using a
different advertiser, as they CAN NOT view this
advertiser's cookies (i.e., they are using a different
host domain). This is how tracking cookies work. They
can tell what types of products you've looked at while
online using site who use that particular advertiser.
Now knowing this information isn't all that bad.

Would you stop going to a particular restaurant simply
because thay know what you order? The answer to that is
no, they just know you and what you order. Tracking
cookies mainly track your shopping habits, just like the
waiter/waitress knows what you order. The tracking
cookies, or any cookies for that matter, to be carefull of
are the one's that store personally identifiable
information. This is the REAL privacy concern.

Simply removing all tracking cookies just to stop these
types of cookies from getting onto your system is pure
overkill, and the wrong approach. It's like trying to
treat cancer by completely removing the affected area,
when a less-invassive approach would work. Setting your
web browser's setting to block any cookie that stores
personally identifiable information is the best approach,
as these can lead to identity theft. The other types
aren't going to allow someone to steal your identity, as
they can't find this information out if the cookie(s)
can't contain personally identifiable information.

Now, back to the part about the Tracks Eraser feature in
the program.

I used the trial version of the one that Ginat Company
created just before Microsoft bought them out.

I'm not certain, but I think that the Tracks Eraser was a
bit buggy then. I think it didn't remove anything from
my Recycle Bin. Micorosoft might have simply removed
this feature's functionality because they have to do some
extenssive reworking of the code.

My suggestion is to not rely on something like an
antisypware program to find and delete these types of
cookies, as most only delete the file and don't shred the
file. I use Window Washer from Webroot (webroot.com)
when I want to completely remove these types of files.
If you have a broadband connection you can download the
product in about 1 minute from their secure site. It not
only can remove cookies, but almost every file from your
web browser's cache to temp files, Windows History, and
many more. Not to mention the fact that you can right-
click on any file and shred it.

Alan

 

[Andre Da Costa]

The MSAS Teams Take on cookies:
http://blogs.technet.com/stevedod/archive/2005/02/23/378972.aspx
--
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