Let's talk Cookies....and other unwanted stuff.

Most of us are familiar with cookies to the extent that we know what they are,
and why. They're little text files that are implanted into your system by websites you visit, so that information can be stored which helps to find that site quickly the next time you want to go there. 

But there are different types. First-party cookies are those from the site that you are actually visiting. Third-party cookies are those from other sites that may be connected to it through advertising pop-ups or videos, or whatever, and may not necessarily be safe sites to visit, or may be tracking you for your personal information. And we aren't even going to talk here about LSOs, better known as 'Supercookies', because ordinary cookie-handling tools can't even see those, and aren't aware of their existence. Too bad. Those are worse than the others.

First of all, to make your browsing safer, go into your settings and change those to prevent the acceptance of third-party cookies. You probably won't notice any real difference in your browsing experiences, except that maybe you won't have quite as many annoyances from sites you hadn't wanted anyway. Here's some helpful information about it. 

And here's something else to look at and perhaps change.....

 When you look at this list (above) there will likely be a check-mark in the box in front of that lowest entry (Enable third party browser extensions*) and what those are mostly are things like extra toolbars that you might not want installed anyway, especially if they came as part of someone's 'bloatware' along with something you did want, and did download. So you can probably remove that check-mark, and be quite happy.

And if you'd like to know more about those 'Supercookies', you should Google for more information on them, or check out the Firefox Add-on 'Better Privacy' which finds, lists, and can remove any or all of them, as you wish. If you use Firefox, you should have 'Better Privacy' installed, along with your AdBlock Plus, and other little helpers.... Here's part of its story....