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website cookies - accept or refuse?
nick205 - 6/7/22 at 04:05 PM

Afternoon all,

Browsing the web pretty much all websites ask you to Accept or Refuse their cookies. Giving you the patter that they use cookies to improve their website.

1. My understanding of cookies is they're mainly used for advertising and tracking - is this way off the mark?

2. In general I Accept the cookies to make the pop-up go away, what difference will it actually make to my use/experience of the website if I just Refuse the cookies?

Looking for some experience based info/knowledge here.

Thanks,
Nick


gremlin1234 - 6/7/22 at 04:16 PM

many web sites track you without using cookies...
they use trivial info like ip address, (and implied location), OS, screen res, which browser you use etc. - and of course if you are 'logged into' a site they know much more about the individual user.
web cookies in general are fine.

edit to add,
the warning is only there because the EU decided that a company storing even a little info (a cookie) on your personal machine needs your permission.


[Edited on 6/7/22 by gremlin1234]


SteveWalker - 7/7/22 at 09:44 AM

It's a pity that the EU didn't mandate that alongside the Accept button, there should also be a Reject All button or better still that the sending of Do Not Track Requests should be honoured, so avoiding people having to click into another page, sometimes with dozens of boxes to untick and even some sites that just say to use the browser's own settings to turn cookies off entirely ... which most people won't want to do, as they do want them for some sites and purposes.


nick205 - 7/7/22 at 10:30 AM

@ gremlin1234

Thank you for the detailed reply - more info than I (and I suspect many other web users) was aware of.


@ SteveWalker

Indeed some websites I have no problem with, others I'd rather have a "Reject All" option. As you rightly say, without having to go through numerous other stages and often being directed to your own web browser settings.

I suspect many web users (1) don't fully understand what websites are up to and (2) don't fully understand how to setup their web browsers.

I (like many others I'm sure) use a work PC with a web browser, but that's sat in a work netwrork security environment.

I also use a home laptop and although it has the same MS Windows OS and I use the same web browser it's not on a work network and runs different security.

I also use my phone with it's built in web browser and have added no additional security (i.e. using the phone as received from OČ)


Bluemoon - 7/7/22 at 11:09 AM

quote:
Originally posted by SteveWalker
It's a pity that the EU didn't mandate that alongside the Accept button, there should also be a Reject All button or better still that the sending of Do Not Track Requests should be honoured, so avoiding people having to click into another page, sometimes with dozens of boxes to untick and even some sites that just say to use the browser's own settings to turn cookies off entirely ... which most people won't want to do, as they do want them for some sites and purposes.


^^ This "Do Not Track Requests should be honored" why this was not done is beyond me... Set and forget if you wish...


overdriver - 7/7/22 at 05:31 PM

I run CCleaner (Free) every day. Just ensure that the 'Cookies' check box is ticked for each browser used - Chrome, Bing etc.

Periodically, I run IObit Advanced SystemCare and SuperAntiSpyware which offer additional security/maintenance features. Very rarely does any tracking issue (cookie) get flagged which suggests that CCleaner is effectively deleting cookies.

Michael.