Some of the cookies left by the Web’s monsters are benign, too. They’re little pieces of data left in your computer by Web sites you visit. If you return to the site, the cookies in your computer can save you time by remembering the web sites you visit., web site user name and password. If you visit a shopping mall, on a return visit the cookies can provide your name, address and credit card number to make shopping a little easier.
The problem is that other Web sites can get access to the cookies and acquire information about you.
You can control cookies with your Internet browser. It can be set to alert you whenever a Web site wants to deposit a cookie in your computer. But that’s never the default setting. And having to respond constantly to warnings can cramp your surfing style.
A number of programs promise to help, and several do the job well. Two Windows 95 programs that I like are Cookie Pal (CP1SETUP.ZIP) and Luckman’s Anonymous Cookie (ACSETUP.ZIP).
Anonymous Cookie lets you disable all the cookies stored in your computer whenever you surf the Net. That’s a bit extreme, but it does work—and the program doesn’t require a registration fee.
Cookie Pal, a shareware program, provides more flexibility. It responds automatically to requests to store cookies on your computer. It provides detailed information on all cookies received. You can set up a list of sites from which you will accept or refuse cookies (or you can just reject all the cookies). You can run the program whenever you start your browser or just when you decide to run it. You can view all the cookies already on your system and delete any of them.
The program works with all the versions of Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator currently in use as well as with CompuServe and America Online.
For Macintosh computers, there are a couple of choices. Cookie Monster, which works with Netscape and Internet Explorer, trashes your cookies folder each time you boot up, making it impossible for Web sites to gather information about you. Cookie Cutter (for Netscape only) gives you a little bit more flexibility by choosing which cookies you want to get rid of.