What do cookies do while I am sleeping?

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Syzygys

Syzygys

As a mother, I am telling you
Valued Senior Member
My computer's HD started to "work" when I go to bed, meaning that no program is running but I still hear it working and doing something.

So I ran Spybot and it didn't find anything, except 140 cookies in my Opera browser. I deleted all the cookies and the noise/HD work stopped! So what all those cookies were doing while I wasn't doing anything with the computer? Were they giving out info about me? I need certain cookies for sites that I visit often...
 
Cookies usually store session data, however cookies themselves can pretty much store any string the programmer wants them to.

For the most part on a security tip, most web developer's attempt to steer clear of using cookies that contain hashed passwords etc, although they are still used as a "Legacy" system for compatibility reasons.

Cookies can be used by Advertisement networks to track where you've clicked and how many times you've clicked. As to why their deletion has made the noise stop, I'd probably suggest that just coincidence. It's most likely caused by an Indexing feature or if you check your Task Scheduler the system could be running ant-virus scans or checking for file updates online.
 
I think they mostly track down pornography.

At least, that's what most of my cookies are about. What the hell are "golden showers" anyway? :shrug:
 
GeoffP said:
I think they mostly track down pornography.

At least, that's what most of my cookies are about. What the hell are "golden showers" anyway? :shrug:
Click to expand...

I think that's shower units with Brass plumbing, It's just people mistake it for gold.
 
O right, pretty much answers my questions about "fur piles" too.
 
So generally speaking, if there is no program running, (except Windows) and let's say I unhook the internet connection, there should be no reason for the HD to be running, right?
 
check you active programs like virus scanners and defraggers it could also be auto updating
 
Stryder said:
Cookies usually store session data, however cookies themselves can pretty much store any string the programmer wants them to.

For the most part on a security tip, most web developer's attempt to steer clear of using cookies that contain hashed passwords etc, although they are still used as a "Legacy" system for compatibility reasons.

Cookies can be used by Advertisement networks to track where you've clicked and how many times you've clicked. As to why their deletion has made the noise stop, I'd probably suggest that just coincidence. It's most likely caused by an Indexing feature or if you check your Task Scheduler the system could be running ant-virus scans or checking for file updates online.
Click to expand...

But even that isn't the full story. Another thing that cookies can do is scan your "Recent" folder at intervals and report back your recently accessed files (documents, songs, pictures, etc.) in addition to reporting on every single website and pages you've visited. All they need to perform that function is a connection to the 'net and a browser window open. If all your browsers are closed (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Opera, and any others) they cannot report back to their sites. One check you can make for that is to have an idle browser window open and check for activity on it in Task Manager.

Also remember that not only do malicious sites collect that information but a great many others as well. I've caught my system reporting lots of information to MSNBC.com.
 
draqon said:
just format c:/ drive
reinstall windows

and...no cookies
Click to expand...

Well, THAT makes lot of sense - NOT! There's no need to have to backup ALL your files, format, reinstall windows and then restore all your files again. Not when there are much simpler ways of doing it. Running those two programs will get rid of the worst ones and if you want to absolutely get them ALL off, just use Windows Explorer and search for "cookie" and manually delete them. Takes all of five minutes.

I'll never understand why some people want to take the long, most drastic approach to solve a simple problem.:shrug:
 
As I said, with Spybot I already killed all of the cookies, but then again, I need some to quickly access sites like this.
Also I can kill them with Opera itself I guess, although I never did that. Actually I can enable/disable cookies or just let certain sites to put the cookies on...
 
cookies are plain text files they dont do anything by them self, it is a simple as that.

It is your browser that uses cookies to store small pieces of information for whatever purposes, but by them self they are only text files.
 
yeah but there is like this index file in system folder...and this index file collects compressed information on sites visited.
 
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