Cookies - What are they and why are they on your computer?


Whom among us does not love cookies? You shouldn't.

Cookies is a term used for pieces of data that websites store on your computer.

They do this so that they can track you from session to session as well as store things about you, like your particular preferences at a website, or even the last search you did (at a few travel sites).

Sometimes it's just there so that they can track you from session to session, and know that its the same person each time. In all these cases they are using your computer to help them track you.

Maybe that's fine with you, maybe its not, but now you can choose.


Blocking (and Allowing) Cookies

You can block or allow cookies at any site with the block button.

Note: Some sites (e.g. GMail) need cookies to operate properly.

Our recommended settings are to Accept For Session most websites, and only to Block cookies for sites you know you don't want to track you at all. (They'll still see your IP address unless you are using a proxy.)

If there is a still that you really want to track you between sessions, or that stores settings on your computer that you want, then it use Accept Cookies for that site.

When you block cookies the page will reload automatically and you'll get a chance to see what this site is like without cookies, and undo easily if there's a problem.

Abine also blocks LSOs

Abine also blocks Local Stored Objects (LSOs) that a site might try and store. If you block cookies, we'll block those as well. LSOs are a new form of cookie that currently bypasses your browser cookie controls.

Cookie Details

If you're curious you can see the specific details of the cookies a site is storing. They probably won't have much obvious meaning, but they're on your computer, and every once in a while you find your email address or some other gem.



Controlling 3rd Party Cookies.

The Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers do make it possible to block 3rd party cookies, but they only allow you to block them everywhere or not at all.

In FireFox (and coming soon for IE) we've added the capability to allow and block cookies from being used as 3rd party cookies at any sites you choose.

This lets you do things like use Facebook "likes" on some sites while keeping Facebook from knowing you browsing behavior at other sites.

To set your Third Party Cookie Settings, do the following:

  1. Open the Privacy Suite
  2. On the "Opt-out & Block" tab, click on "Third Party Cookies Settings"
  3. The 3rd Party window will come up. Here you can create a list of what cookies and site you want to be able to access cookies. There are three columns:
    • Site - this is the site associated with the cookie
    • Requesting Site - this is the site you are currently at that is trying to interact with the cookies
    • Status - allowed or blocked.
You can use "*" as a wildcard but note that a specific rule overrides a wildcard rule.


Example: To block a facebook.com cookie from being used as a third party cookie everywhere (but at it's home site), enter: "Facebook.com" as the site and "*" as the Requesting Site, and click the "Block" button.



"Abine projects the number of Internet users in North America using anti-tracking tools and services will be 28.1 million by the end of 2012." - USA Today

"I was very surprised to see pictures of my former places of residence in your report - it's amazing how much detail these sites are able to obtain. Thanks again for your help. I'm glad I found your service." - DeleteMe customer, Neil

Customer testimonials