[access-uk] Re: Removing cookies

  • From: "Carol Pearson" <carol.pearson@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 06:44:26 +0100

Colin,

That was an interesting piece of information.  Their usefulness is
without question, but of course this can become a tool for others to
track you - "big brother"!

Think I'll stick to the "cookie jar" myself!


--
Carol
carol.pearson@xxxxxxxxxxxx 



-----Original Message-----
From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of chairman@xxxxxxxxx
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:26 PM
To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [access-uk] Re: Removing cookies


Greetings,

Thanks for the assistance given, I received a private message which I
believe contains information I seek, the message, minus the internet
lines, is pasted below the line of asterisks.

*****************************


Viewing cookie information before removing:

 

KAREN'S POWER TOOLS NEWSLETTER

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Karen's Power Tools are now available on CD! 
To learn all about it, and securely order online, 
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August 4, 2005

By Karen Kenworthy

Read the Web version of Power Tools online!
http://www.karenware.com/newsletters/2005/2005-08-04.asp

IN THIS ISSUE
* Cookie Ingredients
* All of Karen's "Power Tools"

 

Recently, I wrote about new versions of my Cookie Viewer program. At the
end of each discussion, I said there was more to say about each tool.
But time ran out, and those talks had to wait until 
another time. Well, that time is now. :)

 

Cookie Ingredients
A few weeks ago, when we met the newest version of the Cookie Viewer, we

were reminded of the important role cookies perform in making the modern

web possible. 

 

Cookies -- tiny files stored on our computers -- hold the memories of
web 
sites we've visited. They may remind web sites who we are, what we did 
during out last visit, and what we're trying to accomplish during our 
current visit. These bits of data make possible such conveniences as 
automatic logins and shopping carts.

 

We saw how the new Cookie Viewer can automatically search our disk
drives, 
looking for cookies stored by most popular web browsers. These browsers 
include Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape's Navigator, and
Mozilla's 
FireFox. We also chatted a bit about how my program displays each
cookie's 
content, and can delete selected cookies.

 

Unfortunately, we didn't have time to look closely at the ingredients
that 
make up these mysterious web browser cookies. So if you've got a minute,

take off your shoes, have a seat on the sofa, and make yourself
comfortable ...

 

Let's start with the two most important cookie parts: Keys and Values.
The 
Cookie Viewer displays these cookie components beneath tabs appearing on

the program's main window.

 

All cookies contain at least one "Key". It's a short name, chosen by the

web server that ordered the cookie. It identifies the data stored in the

cookie.

 

For every key, you'll find a corresponding "Value". As you've guessed,
the 
value is the cookie's nugget of data. 

 

Cookie keys and values always come in pairs. For example, a cookie which

holds your login credentials for a particular web site might contain
these 
two pairs:

Key 1: USERNAME
Value 1: MyLoginName

Key 2: PASSWORD
Value 2: MySecretPassword

When you visit the site that created this cookie, its two Key/Value
pairs 
are automatically sent to the site, allowing you to bypass the usually 
login procedure.

 

Besides one or more Key/Value pairs, cookies contain other important
bits. 
For example, like cookies we buy at a store, all web browser cookies
have 
an expiration date. After this date, both types of cookies are stale,
and 
should be discarded (unless you're really hungry).

 

Naturally, the Cookie Viewer reveals each cookie's expiration date. But
it 
also discloses how many days, hours, minutes and seconds the cookie has 
left to live (its lifetime). 

 

If the cookie was stored by Microsoft's Internet Explorer (MSIE), the 
program also shows the date and time each cookie was created.
Unfortunately, because of the way they store cookies, this information
is not available for cookies baked by Netscape's Navigator or Mozilla's 
FireFox browsers. :(

However, those two browsers do record (and the Cookie Viewer displays)
one 
bit of information that MSIE does not. It's called "Scope", and it 
determines which web servers can see the cookie's contents.

 

Suppose a web server named www.microsoft.com creates a cookie that's 
stored on your computer by Netscape's Navigator browser. If that
cookie's 
Scope is "Host", only that one web server can later discover the
cookie's 
data. But if the cookie's scope is "Domain", servers that are closely
related to 
the original server are allowed to see this cookie too. To qualify, the 
right-most portions of all server names must match exactly. Only the 
left-most portion of each name, up to the first period, can differ.

 

For example, a server named store.microsoft.com would be allowed to peek

inside a "Domain" cookie created by a server named www.microsoft.com. 
That's because the names of both servers end with "microsoft.com". 

But even with a "Domain" scope, a cookie created by
<http://www.microsoft.com> www.microsoft.com 
would still be off-limits to servers with names like 
 <http://www.anothercompany.com> www.anothercompany.com. Their names are
just too different. The last bit of data found in each web browser
cookie is the cookie's 
"Secure" setting. If this is "Yes", the cookie's keys and values can
only 
be transmitted across encrypted network connections. If the "Secure" 
setting is "No", the cookie contains no sensitive data, and can be sent 
along ordinary unencrypted routes.

 

Discover the information that web sites store on your computer. This
Power Tool automatically scans your computer, looking for "cookies"
created by Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Netscape's Navigator and
Mozilla Project's FireFox web browsers. It can then display the data
stored in each one. It can also delete any unwanted cookies stored by
these browsers.

 

Karen's Cookie Viewer v3.5.6
Download and run to install Cookie Viewer 865,216 bytes
<http://www.karenware.com/progs/ptcookie-setup.exe>
http://www.karenware.com/progs/ptcookie-setup.exe

All the best

from:

Colin R. Howard.


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