[access-uk] Re: Removing cookies

  • From: "Tony Cretney" <rac@xxxxxxxx>
  • To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2005 09:16:13 +0100


Thanks Colin for putting this on

I have certainly found out a few things about cookies that I did not previously know.

Most Interesting

Tony

----- Original Message ----- From: <chairman@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 8:25 PM
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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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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