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Cookies??

692 views 10 replies 4 participants last post by  lunarlander 
#1 ·
The Old Luddite is back again. Can you someone please explain what it means to "accept cookies" on a website. Does this mean that I'm going to get hit with pop-up ads? I don't want pop-ups. Thank you very much.
 
#2 · (Edited by Moderator)
Cookies are small files that a web site places on your hard drive. The file contains things like what you have done on that web site. Like on this forum, cookies are sent to your hard drive recording things like maybe which threads you have read, and thus not display them again when you click on the Alert top right corner button.

Cookies can be devided into 2 types : 1st party or 3rd party. The cookies that we send you recording which threads you have read are 1st party cookies. The 3rd party cookies are sent to you by advertisements. Like the adverstisements on the right side. Those cookies are sent by the advertisement company to mark that you have seen the ad. Or if you click on one, another cookie will be sent marking that you have clicked on a certain ad.

The advertisement company may then, based on what ads you clicked onto, send you similar ads for the same kind of product. Lets say you clicked on a Ford commercial. That means to the advertisimg company that you are probably looking to buy a car. So it will keep on displaying other car commercials to you. And if the same advertising company is showing ads on a different web site, it will continue to show you car commercials, hoping to earn clicks.

Pop up ads are almost a thing of the past. Most browsers block them now. Because they are disruptive to a good surfing experience. That means you have to use a recent browser, like Edge, Chrome or Firefox. All of these are regularly updated. But I don't think Internet Explorer gets updated very often or at all.

And you can totally block all ads by installing the Ad Block Plus extension in your browser.
 
#4 ·
An adblocker and a modified host file reduces ads.
I block all 3rd party cookies but accept 'local' ones because some web sites simply work better, to my advantage.
NoScript also helps, by blocking unwanted scripts, which also enhances general security.

I see almost no ads.
 
#5 ·
Certain cookies are needed for logging in to sites where you have an account like TSG, Amazon, your financial institutions, etc. If you don't accept those you won't be able to log in. Also, some sites don't work at all or not well if you don't accept cookies. I generally try to avoid those as I don't feel I should have to accept cookies I don't want just to view their content but I do make some exceptions.
 
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