Avoiding Cookies

You can prevent cookies from being used on your computer at all, or manage them with a custom application. You can set your browser to reject cookies as follows.

Internet Explorer: Tools / Internet Options / Security
– Set security level to “High”, or Custom level / Cookies / Disable

Mozilla Firefox: Tools / Options / Privacy / Cookies
– Uncheck “Allow sites to set cookies”

Note that some web sites won’t let you visit unless you accept their cookies. If you want to go to the trouble, you can turn cookies on to visit them, turn them off when you leave, and then turn them back on when you return, whereupon you may have to re-enter information not saved in the cookie.

Resources. Various applications provide various levels of cookie protection. Many virus protection programs also provide other Internet protection features including cookie controls. Some applications let you block cookies selectively without erasing the ones you want. Some let you turn on anonymous surfing mode to prevent cookie usage, turn the feature off to use sites that require cookies, and then turn the feature back on without erasing useful cookies that you want to use later.

One of the early cookie control applications was called simply “The Cookie Jar”. Another historical cookie control application was called the “APK Cookie Killing Engine”.