Posts Tagged browser
Web Cookies: the good, the bad and the ugly.
Posted by Daniel Snyder in Computer Security on August 4, 2010
As a person who helps a lot of individuals with their personal computer problems I seem to run into a familiar line of thinking on a regular basis, and that is many people seem to think web cookies (also known as browser cookies or an HTTP cookie) are a bad thing. Some I’ve talked with even seem to think that having a cookie is akin to having a virus, and that web cookies are a very bad thing.
First off, what exactly is a web cookie? Simply put, web cookies are nothing more than a piece of text that your web browser (firefox, internet explorer etc.) stores. It is not an executable file and doesn’t have any ability to run scripts or other potentially malicious software on your computer, all it ever stores is information in text format.
So to break it down for you real simple, here in three parts is the good, the bad and the ugly of web cookies.
The Good
Web cookies are utilized by many web sites for things such as authentication, storing your site preferences (Such as when you choose MSN Canada versus MSN USA, you’ll notice you never get asked again, and that is because that choice is stored in a cookie.), the contents of your online shopping cart, and there are additional legitimate uses as well. The information is stored until you delete your cookies, or until the cookie is set to expire which is often decided by the website you are visiting. If a cookie expires it is deleted from your computer. Popular cookie myths: Cookies are not viruses, and they have no ability to replicate themselves. Cookies also have no ability to generate pop-up advertising, or to send spam.
The Bad
The notorious tracking cookie is what most people are thinking about when they think negatively about cookies. The object of a tracking cookie is as its name suggests to track your internet browsing habits. Tracking you across multiple sites is valuable information to advertisers who can determine based on your habits what types of advertising should be shown to you. The primary concern with tracking cookies is that they are violating your privacy rights. Most browsers contain options for looking at, deleting, and rejecting cookies. Unfortunately rejecting cookies all together will cause some sites to become unavailable to you. If privacy is a major concern to you, than you should use an effective anti-malware tool such as malwarebytes which will identify and remove tracking cookies.
The Ugly
Eating a lot of cookies will cause you to gain weight.
Summary
There is a lot more complex information that could be given on cookies, but the basics are here. If you’d like to learn more than I suggest you spend a little time researching cookies on the web. A site worth looking at is cookiecentral.com. So now you can help your family and friends better understand cookies, and maybe debunk some of their cookie myths. By the way my favorite cookies are peanut butter.
Speed up your firefox, for real.
Posted by Daniel Snyder in Computer Security on May 23, 2010
I test drove this, and it works well, I’ve had no problems with the operation of firefox since. So don’t just take my word for it, configure firefox yourself.
Step 1:
In your location bar, type about:config
Step 2:
In the filter bar type network.http.pipelining
Change the boolean value to become ‘TRUE’
Step 3:
In the filter bar again and type network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Change the value field from 4 to 8.
Step 4:
Go to the filter bar again and type network.http.proxy.pipelining
Change the boolean value to become ‘TRUE’
Step 5:
Go to the filter bar again and type network.dns.disableIPv6
Again, change the boolean value to become ‘TRUE’
Step 6:
Go to the filter bar again and type plugin.expose_full_path
Once again, we can change this value to become ‘TRUE’
Step 7:
Let’s create a new preference name
Right click > new > integer
The preference name will be nglayout.initialpaint.delay
The value for this preference will be 0
Step 8:
Create another preference name
Right click > new > integer
The preference name will be content.notify.backoffcount
The value for this preference will be 5
Step 9:
Create one mroe preference name
Right click > new > integer
The preference name will be ui.submenuDelay
The value for this preference will be 0
That’s it. Close firefox, and then restart it. Firefox will now operate faster (page load times!), you’ll be surprised.
Computer Tip #6
Posted by Daniel Snyder in Computer Security on May 13, 2010
Tip #6, firefox tip: keywords for your bookmarks & the bookmark toolbar.
Well this tip won’t help speed up your computer, but it will help speed up your life. At this point I’m assuming you already use firefox, or have made the change simply because I suggested it (because it’s the right thing to do!). Firefox has a nifty little feature called “keywords” which can be built into your bookmarks.
As you can see by the below image, if you right click on any item you’ve bookmarked and click properties, you have the option to enter a keyword. Here I’ve clicked on my ‘information week’ bookmark, and for the keyword I’ve selected ‘infoweek’.
Now if I head up to my address bar at the top of firefox, I can simply type my keyword in, instead of the full address, or seeking for the bookmark.
Take a look at image 2.
This will take me right to the site entered into the bookmark… This can be quite useful, and is a great shortcut.
But I’m not done, firefox has another fantastic option for simplifying your browsing: there is actually a bookmark toolbar right below your address bar. Whenever you are visiting a site you want to bookmark, and it is high on your list of visited sites than maybe putting it here is the thing to do. Simply grab hold of the tab with your mouse, and pull it up to the bookmark toolbar. There it sits. Right click and select properties, to adjust its name.
Here’s a look at my bookmark toolbar; this would be the place to store sites you visit a lot (like Information Carnivore!)
True PC Repair, (604)309-2777 “Get it to run like new”
Computer tip #4
Posted by Daniel Snyder in Computer Security on May 11, 2010
Tip #4, firefox.
Firefox is by far the most superior of all browsers on the web (opinion). If you are still surfing with Internet Explorer, or have got sucked into Google Chrome, or if you run a PC and decided to use Safari (because you wish you had a mac) you are using an inferior browser. (Yes I am supremely biased on this one). But firefox is fast, does a great job of blocking pop-ups, organizes your bookmarks, stores your passwords, restores your sessions, has customizable add-ons, etc… This tip is going to be a two for one, because I am still surprised at how few people surf the web and do not utilize tabbed browsing. Of course almost all browsers allow for tabbed browsing now, but firefox is certainly the fastest. When surfing the web inside firefox press CTRL+T to start a new tab, you will note that the page you were on stays open, and a new page opens up in a tab beside it (as I write this I have six tabs open). Tabbed browsing will make your web surfing experience that much more sweet. There is so much I could say about firefox, and why I feel it is a superior browser in every way. Start tooling around with firefox today, and I guarantee you’ll thank me
Check it out: firefox features.
True PC Repair, (604)309-2777 “Get it to run like new”
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