Genealogy Chat

Are tracking cookies bad, are you ment to delete them?. I just keep useful websites in my favourites, are these the tracking cookies, if so do I realy have to delete them as Ad-Aware scan is picking them up as critical objects that need to be removed. Betty

Most sites wont work without cookies these days. If they are for websites that you know and trust then by all means keep them.

Hi Peter, Thanks for your reply, also for your other reply about Euro €. My computer is going very slow and sometime almost shuts down or freezes I just wondered if the cookies could do this. Betty

Hi Betty Boo, Have you tried cleaning up your Internet files and doing a Defrag ? I don't what what system you use. I use Internet Explorer 7 so I'll try and explain as I do it, you should be able to see similar. Go to Tools, click on Internet Options then click on Browsing History, click on Delete then click Delete Cookies and then Delete Files. There's absolutley no harm in doing this and helps the running of your computer. When you've done the above go to the Start, bottom left of your page, click on Accessories then click on System Tools, click on Disk Cleanup and let that run. Once that's completed go back into System Tools and click on Disk Defragmenter and let that run, this may take quite a few minutes depending on how much work it's got to do. Disk Cleanups and Defrag should be done at least once a month to keep your poota cleaned up from unnecessary files etc. Good luck, Merv

Yes in addition to what Merv suggests do check that you don't have anything nasty running in the background by running anti-virus and adaware programs regularly. If you open Task Manager then Processes and click on the CPU you will see which processes are using up CPU resource. Unless you are actually running a program most resource should be shown as system idle time. If there is another process that is using a lot of resource then this might point to where the problem is. On the question of de-fragging, once you have done this then there is little point in running it monthly unless you are in the habit of saving and deleting large numbers of files.on a regular basis. Defragging can only improve the time is takes to access files on the hard disk, it has no effect if you PC is running slow for other reasons.

Go to IE7, select Tools, select Internet Options,Select History then select All and Delete. Delete any unused programs by checking for any uninstall feature on the start\program menu,if none go to Add & Remove in Control Panel to do this. Then log on to the Trend Micro website and 'Housecall' to do a complete scan of your computer for viruses\malware. Select the java option to do the scan. After it has finshed,if there are infections it will want to do a re-scan, do this and exit the program. Then do a system defragmentation from System Tools and afterwards create a restore point from system restore. Reboot the computer and you should see a speed up. You may want to check how much Ram you have on your system, 1gb is the minimum, doubling it will greatly speed things up according to the ram specification. I use Windows Live One Care which is better than Norton AV and it will keep your computer tuned up for you.

saving for ref

Sorry Merv, Peter and Michael, Sorry I missed all your replies yesterday. I run AVG virus protection also have Ad-Aware and also disc refragmenter(2). I am not very good on the technical side with my computer but I do run each of the above every 2 days or so. The main problem is in my Google broozer there is a bookmarks where I keep all the good website I find so I can use them at a later date. These are what my my virus protection is picking up as tracking cookies, if i dete them then I will not be able to find these websites again. What can I do?? Betty

Hi Betty, Most tracking cookies are used by advertisers for market research purposes. In my opinion you should block them all and delete them. It is perfectly safe to delete tracking cookies. A good program that you can use to scan and automatically delete the tracking cookies, other cookies may be needed, is Spybot Search and Destroy (Spybot S & D). Its free:- http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html Spybot also removes a lot of other malware from your computer. Please note it is not an anti-virus and anti-virus software will not usually remove tracking cookies (they are not viruses). I also block tracking cookies from sending out information with Ad-Watch and Zone Alarm Pro, but both of these versions require an annual subscription. The websites listed in your favourites are not the cookies, the cookie is actually loaded onto your PC when you visit the site, GR for instance installs at least one tracking cookie that has absolutely no purpose for accessing the site - it is used to provide info to it's advertisers. Paul

I always delete my tracking cookies and I've never found a site yet that I can't get into. :-) It's always a good idea when you register with any site to make a note of your username and password. I usually print these details off from the email they send me when I register; but I rarely have to use them. Cheers, Horatia

Thanks for info - bookmarking. Liz

Hi Paul, Just to let you know I did download Spybot Search and Destroy and it worked great, removed all about 36 of them. I do still have my bookmarks which is great as I like to keep my website that I use a lot on there so I don't forget the web address, and its quicker to access them too. Just want to thank you for all your help! You must be at the other side of the word, when your on GR I am off, sorry about that, means my replys to you are later. Betty