COOKIES AND TEMPORARY INTERNET FILES

The Temporary Internet Files (or cache) folder contains Web page content that is stored on your hard disk for quick viewing. This cache permits Internet Explorer or MSN Explorer to download only the content that has changed since you last viewed a Web page, instead of downloading all the content for a page every time it is displayed. To delete the files in the Temporary Internet Files folder, follow these steps:.




Quit Internet Explorer and quit any instances of Windows Explorer.

Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Internet Options.

On the General tab, click Delete Files under Temporary Internet Files.

In the Delete Files dialog box, click to select the Delete all offline content check box , and then click OK.

Click OK.

NOTES:

• If the Temporary Internet Files folder contains a significant amount of Web page content, this process may take several minutes to complete.

• An administrator can customize your Temporary Internet Files settings and prevent you from changing them (for example, by removing the General tab from the interface in the Internet Options dialog box). If you cannot access the Internet Options dialog box or the General tab, contact your administrator for more information.

• Files that start with the word "Cookie" may remain in your Temporary Internet Files folder after you follow these steps. These files are pointers to the actual cookie files that are located in your Cookies folder. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 158769 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/158769/EN-US/ ) Emptying Temporary Internet Files Folder Leaves Cookies Files

• For additional information about how to delete cookies, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 278835 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/278835/EN-US/ ) How to Delete Cookie Files

• In some cases, files that are downloaded from Web sites may remain in your Temporary Internet Files folder but are not visible in Windows Explorer after you follow these steps. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 301057 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/301057/EN-US/ ) Temporary Internet Files Use More Disk Space Than Specified .

FOR FURTHER DETAILS:

• You would truly be amazed at the amount of data your browser keeps about you and the files it keeps for later browsing. Your browser is the program you use to surf the internet whether it is Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer. There are things called cookies which are tiny files kept on your hard drive for many reasons. One of which keeps track of your surfing habits and keeps information about you and certain websites you visit. They are sent by a web server or internet site to your computer for information in regards to your visit and future visits by usually each website you visit. Say you go to a online website where you can purchase a number of items.

• If you have cookies enabled and close the browser and then open it again and go back to that website, your shopping cart still shows the items you selected through the cookie stored on your computer.

• These have been a concern for your internet privacy in the past as they keep track of your browsing habits. Some of the information they have stored in the past is not entirely accurate and therefore has been a source of targeting for hackers and network attackers. They do allow you to be tracked by surfing habits. These are not viruses and really have no use except for that. Also there is internet information stored on your computer usually in temporary internet files in the windows directory. This information stores pictures and other objects. These files are used to access websites faster in the event you go back to a website you have already visited as those pictures on the website are already stored on your hard drive and do not have to reload. If you disable the cookies keep in mind some websites do not work properly with things such as a shopping cart. Most browsers allow you to turn off cookies and block them completely if so desired or only temporarily.

• So to keep anonymity we don't want to have cookies enabled permanently and what I would suggest is to have them deleted after you close your browser. For those more paranoid than that I would choose to block them permanently as they will not have access to your computer and surfing habits. I use Mozilla Firefox and the way to turn them off is by going to the tools tab at the top of the browser. Next go to options and from there to the privacy tab to choose to accept them when browsing or to not have them access you at all.

• I would also suggest changing your browsing history in the privacy tab as the history is usually kept by default for 90 days, which is a long time. If anyone gets on your computer or it is confiscated, keep in mind all this information is accessible unless set otherwise. If you choose to have no history stored make sure you know the website addresses of your most common websites so you don't forget where something is located on the internet. Follow these guidelines along with using a proxy to surf the internet and you will be virtually invisible to every website you visit. They will not know who you are and will not be able to track your habits. This is one more step to being untraceable online.