Anti-Spy Advice Page

What are cookies for?

Cookies are little files that store information you have given to the site your visiting, so that next time you return, you will be automatically logged in and you will not have to fill out the information required by that web site again. In some cases this can be very beneficial and time saving.

So what is bad about cookies?

Cookies can store all sorts of information about you and your activities on the internet, such as Name, E-mail address, Date of Birth, I.P. number, every web site you have visited and what you did whilst there, information about your browser and pc hardware, post codes/zip numbers and endless other information, say if you have been onto an internet site and filled out a application for anything where you have entered your phone number or address for instance, that could be storied in a cookie. This information can be stolen by hackers, even though cookies are encrypted in most cases to stop the hacker from retrieving any information from them, hackers and hacker software are getting ever more intelligent at breaking the encryption, as seen many times before how easy it can be to access a seemingly impossible to hack server/system or program.

Other than hackers, cookies are used as spyware devices, what this means is information gathered by the cookie and web page your visiting are sold to advertising companies, using the information gathered the advertising company can phone, e-mail or post adverts to you, this alone can get very annoying especially if you have been very careful in the past not to give your details to these people, your details are sold without you even knowing. Basically this can be a serious violation of privacy, which you can do nothing about, except protect your self from this information been stored on your computer.

Also the information being stored in these cookies about your internet activities can and has in the past been used in a court of law as evidence against people who are doing illegal activities on the internet, even if you didn't know what you was doing was illegal.

PLEASE NOTE that the information or software witch I am telling you about, is not to be used to avoid the law in any way whatsoever.

What software can stop these cookies?

Firstly you can block or limit these cookies directly on your Internet Explorer browser, depending on your version of internet explorer you go to Tools-Internet Options-Privacy from here you can turn off some/all cookies or force it to ask you if you wish to allow cookies to be downloaded onto your computer for each individual internet site. Please note altering these settings, such as turning off all cookies can stop you accessing some internet pages that require cookies.

Alternativly you can use software such as Guard-IE which is an add-on for internet explorer, which logs how many cookies have been downloaded onto your computer and giving you the ability to delete them at will, but even better it can automatically delete them for you when you close down your browser, click on the link on the right bar to download a trial version.

Complete Cleanup is a program that can delete internet cookies of your choice, this software can do a lot more than just cookies, it can clean up your computers internet log files, your windows log and temp files and much more.

Evidence Eliminator is a program that can do all of the above and lots more, it is probably the most secure internet and PC cleanser available today, it uses the same technology as the U.S. military to delete any evidence of your activities on or off the internet permanently, so that no one can ever retrieve them.