Posted by andreas from p3EE3C3A0.dip.t-dialin.net (62.227.195.160) on Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 2:14PM :
In Reply to: Warning: Yahoo & Privacy posted by andreas from p3EE3C6AA.dip.t-dialin.net (62.227.198.170) on Sunday, November 24, 2002 at 9:23AM :
Additional Info
(Don't miss the last part after the programme code section)
There is a simple way to defeat cookies that takes advantage of the fact that
those who use cookies to track your Internet habits don't bother check whether
the cookies they sent were actually written to your hard disk.
Find the file "cookies.txt" on your hard disk. This will usually be in the
directory where your browser is stored under a subdirectory entitled "Users" or
similar. If you find no such file, create a file with that filename using
Wordpad or other ASCII text editor. You can also use Word, but must save the
file as a "Text Only (*.txt)" file.
The "cookies.txt" file will have a header that, in the case of Netscape, will
look like this.
# Netscape HTTP Cookie File
# http://www.netscape.com/newsref/std/cookie_spec.html
# This is a generated file! Do not edit.
Leave this alone.
The header will be followed by a long list of entries that will look something
like this:
forum.topwebmaster.net TRUE /extern/de/CitaraWebdesigner FALSE
1054990333 forum_cookie 1023454532-0
statse.webtrendslive.com FALSE /S009-00-10-10-195458-30809 FALSE
1609405174 wtl30809 WebStatLastOrder=&WebStatFirstVisit=10/07/02
01:38:53
PM&WebStatVisitCount=0&WebStatUserID=009-00-10-10-195458-30809&WebStatLastVisit=
10/07/02 01:47:29
PM&LastPage=http://www.lightspeedeurope.com/document.asp?doc_id%3D66&LastPage1=h
ttp://www.lightspeedeurope.com/reg_complete.asp?reg_type%3Dconference%26reg_emai
l%3Droger%252Ep%252Emain%2540t%252Donline%252Ede%26reg_fname%3DRoger
P%252E%26reg_lname%3DMain&LastPage2=http://www.lightspeedeurope.com/reg_forms.as
p?reg_type%3Dconference&LastPage3=http://www.lightspeedeurope.com/document.asp?d
oc_id%3D18&VisitEntry=http://www.lightspeedeurope.com/&VisitReferrer=&FirstDate=
10/07/02 01:38:53
PM&FirstPage=http://www.lightspeedeurope.com/&FirstReferrer=&PageDepth=4&PageCli
cks=4&NumVisit=2&NumOrder=0&lastvisit_lightspeed01=10/07/02 01:47:29 PM&
statse.webtrendslive.com FALSE /S005-01-5-11-246249-74406 FALSE
1609405214 wtl74406
7&2A42Ii8F&http://www.itv-f1.com/features/features_story.php3&http://www.itv-f1.
com/&2A42Ii8F&http://www.itv-f1.com/itv_team/itvteam_story/12958&http://www.itv-
f1.com/formula_fun/formula_fun_story/12995&http://www.itv-f1.com/themole/mole_st
ory/12960&http://www.itv-f1.com/&http://www.itv-f1.com/&&10&5&5&0&&0&&0&&0000000
&COMPETITION%3B26FKYF7F|FEATURES%3B28EDPB88|FEATURES%2C8866%3B223MYm6C|HOME%3B2A
429w8F|ITVTEAM%3B2A42Ii8F|MURRAY%3B2A428F8F|NEWS%3B28EDUv88|THEMOLE%3B2A42BH8F|T
HEMOLE%2C8646%3B223Mih6C|THEMOLE%2C8731%3B223Mcc6C|THEMOLE%2C8865%3B223Mfw6C|&&
statse.webtrendslive.com FALSE /S005-01-5-15-203449-74993 FALSE
1609401613 wtl74993 WebStatLastOrder=&WebStatFirstVisit=05/05/02
07:36:00
AM&WebStatVisitCount=0&WebStatUserID=005-01-5-15-203449-74993&WebStatLastVisit=0
5/05/02 07:36:00
AM&LastPage=http://www.vnunet.de/pc-pro/gewinnspiel/auswertung_cebit.asp&LastPag
e1=&LastPage2=&LastPage3=&VisitEntry=http://www.vnunet.de/pc-pro/gewinnspiel/aus
wertung_cebit.asp&VisitReferrer=&FirstDate=05/05/02 07:36:00
AM&FirstPage=http://www.vnunet.de/pc-pro/gewinnspiel/auswertung_cebit.asp&FirstR
eferrer=&PageDepth=0&NumVisit=2&NumOrder=0&
p.wtlive.com FALSE /S008-00-8-19-128549-23446 FALSE 1609401761
wtl23446 4&27P0hJ85&http://www.simtel.net/simselects.php&1&
p.wtlive.com FALSE /S004-01-3-7-230012-58511 FALSE 1609401611
wtl58511
If you delete the entire list, nobody will be able to determine which web sites
you have visited. Since that is none of their business, why not delete it?
Don't forget to leave the header there though. After you have deleted the list
of entries, save the file to the directory where you found it under the same
filename and write-protect it. If you created your own "cookies.txt" file,
insert a header similar to that above and then save the file and write-protect
it. You have to save the file as an ASCII text file, however.
Some Internet sites might create their own cookie files under other filenames.
If so, try to find them and write-protect them. That should be enough to stop
any cookies coming from them. Before you write-protect the files, you can
delete any lines containing objectionable cookies using an ASCII text editor,
such as Wordpad, and then save the files to the directory where you found them
and write-protect them.
-- andreas
-- signature .