Subject: Weekend Announcements 09/03/1999

From: Erols Internet
Date: Sat, 04 Sep 1999 03:21:43 -0400

THIS WEEK'S ANNOUNCEMENTS

-- TIP OF THE WEEK - COOKIES
-- YOUR SITES OF THE WEEK 

You can always find our previous announcements by DATE here:
http://www.erols.com/erols/news/index.html

and by SUBJECT here:

http://www.erols.com/erols/news/news_by_subject.htm 

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TIP OF THE WEEK: COOKIES
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My favorite cookie is a chewy chocolate chip.  What's yours?

Excuse me, what does this have to do with the Internet?

On the Internet, a "cookie" is a morsel of information that some Web sites 
put on your computer (often without your knowledge) to help keep track of 
YOU. Most cookies are harmless; some are a bit nosey. If you are concerned 
about your privacy on the Internet, you may want to learn more.

Some may find this routine stuff; others may not be aware of it.

1. What is a cookie?
2. How do cookies work?
3. What are they used for?
4. How to view your cookies files.
5. How to remove cookies.
6. How to disable cookies.

1.	What is a cookie?   A cookie is a simple, passive text file stored on 
your computer.  It may contain information such as user names, possibly your 
e-mail address, and your preferences when visiting a Web site. Cookies often 
contain no more than 25 or 30 characters, although they can range up to 255. 
Much information in cookies comes from your answers to on-screen questions, 
so be careful what you tell a Web site.

	(NOTE: Cookies are NOT the same as graphics and text files that Web 
sites also download onto your computer to make the site load faster the next 
time you visit.  These files are stored in the "cache."  For a discussion 
about how, when and why you should "clear the cache," please read the Tip in 
this Weekend Announcement:)

http://www.erols.com/erols/news/0699/06-11-99.html

2.    How do cookies work?  You visit a Web site.  A script on that site 
tells your browser (such as Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) to 
create a cookie with specific information.  The browser writes that file in 
our hard drive.  (More about where in a minute.)  When you return to that Web 
site, another script searches for "its" cookie, and reads it.

The cookie contains the site's domain name (such as "erols.com") and is  
designed to be read ONLY by that site.

3.	What are cookies used for?  Some cookies are limited to recognizing who 
you are. Others do more.

a)	User identity.  Some sites require you to "log-in" before showing you 
their inside stuff.   Cookies save your ID so you do not have to type it in 
every time you visit.

b)    Personal touches.  Have you ever been to a site that that tells you, 
"Welcome, Stephen?  Your name and other preferences were stored in a cookie.

c)    Web site tracking. Here is where the controversy begins.  Using "log 
files" site designers can tell which site you were visiting before you came 
by their place. The server records every single request it gets, the time, 
where it came from, and what pages were looked at. The log file will note 
what site you were "referred" from, that is, the previous site. 

Within a site, cookies are used to record internal tracking that tells what 
parts of a site you visited before you got bored and wandered off.

d)	Targeted marketing.  Companies can use cookies to indicate which of 
their ads you have already looked at, so they can show you a new one the next 
time you stop by.  A site that knows your identity could exchange it with 
other companies that buy advertising space.  Over time, "data mining" 
marketing firms can build detailed profiles of your interests and spending 
habits.  Aha!  Perhaps this is the reason you have been getting so much 
targeted junk mail recently.  (Actually, data mining software is one of the 
big new trends in marketing across the board, not just the Internet.)

e)    Online ordering systems.  If you shop on the Internet, these types of 
cookies can remember what you bought in the past, or what you have in your 
"shopping basket" at the moment in case you get cut off or lose interest.

4.    How to view your cookies files. There are various ways to do this,
depending on the browser you are using.

Netscape products store cookies in a file named "cookie.txt" Use the Start 
|Find Files feature to search for it.  The file will open in Notepad.  You 
may be surprised to find some sites you never thought you visited.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0 stores cookies in folders named "Cookies," 
with files name "index.dat" or other text files.  Internet Explorer 5.0 
stores a different cookie for each site, and each file ends with the .txt 
extension.

Or, in Internet Explorer 4.0, go to View | Internet Options | General | 
Temporary Internet Files | Settings | View Files.  Scroll through the list to 
find not only graphics and text files downloaded from sites, but also files 
labeled "cookie" this-or-that.

In Internet Explorer 5.0 start this path at Tools | Internet Options, etc. 
(instead of beginning at "View").

Macintosh owners using Netscape browsers can employ "Finder" to search for a 
folder named "MagicCookie."  Open it to see a list of cookies you have 
collected.

Macintosh owners using Internet Explorer browsers should go (within the 
program) to Edit | Preferences | Receiving Files | Cookies.  You will find a 
Delete button to get rid of the cookies, and a "Settings" button to choose a 
level of accepting (or rejecting) cookies.

5.  How to remove cookies. Again, this depends on the type of browser you are 
using.

For Netscape products, the simplest thing to do is find the "cookies.txt" 
file and delete it.

For Internet Explorer versions 4.0 and 5.0, if you follow the path described 
above to view files, when you get to Temporary Internet Files, choose the 
option "Delete Files."  In some cases, this will delete only the text and 
graphics files downloaded to make sites load faster, NOT the cookies. You may 
have to take the next step of clicking on Settings | View Files.  If you have 
already clicked on "Delete Files" in the previous step, you may find the 
graphics and text files gone, but the cookies remaining.  Make sure you are 
in the folder labeled, "Temporary Internet Files." If this is the case, use 
CTRL-A to select all the cookies and then delete them. 

(Mac users, please see step four to find cookies and delete them.)

6.	How to disable cookies.  Both the major browsers offer degrees of 
control over cookies, enabling you to decide whether you want to accept them 
or not, or just be warned if a site wants to download a cookie.

In Netscape 3.0 go to Options | Network Preferences | Protocols.  If you 
wish, under Show an Alert Before put a check next to Accepting a Cookie.

In Netscape 4.0 up to 4.08, the path is Edit | Preferences | Advanced.  Click 
on Never Accept Cookies (or) Warn Me before Accepting a Cookie.

In the Netscape 4.5 series, go to Edit | Preferences and click on the 
Advanced box (not just the + plus sign next to it).  You will find four 
options: Accept all cookies; Accept only cookies that get sent back to the 
originating server; Disable cookies; and Warn me before accepting a cookie.

In Internet Explorer 3.0 go to View | Options | Advanced, where you will find 
a box to be checked to Warn before accepting cookies.

In Internet Explorer 4.0, the path is View | Internet Options | Security.  
There you will find a sliding "Security" scale, with options ranging from Low 
through Medium-Low, to Medium, to High. To block cookies altogether, you have 
to choose the High option.

PLEASE NOTE: After all this talk about cookies, it is only fair to say they 
are either a fact of modern life or a marketing nuisance, depending on your 
point of view. In some respects, cookies are no different than the approach 
used by a national supermarket chain that issues you a special discount card 
and then uses it to track your purchases and send you "special offers."

After a bit of experimentation, you may find disabling cookies more trouble 
than it is worth, because every time you go to some Web sites, you will be 
required to pause and choose whether you want to accept a cookie or not.

For yet more information on cookies, here are some useful Web sites:

http://www.cookiecentral.com/cm002.htm

http://www.junkbusters.com/ht/en/cookies.html

http://www.epic.org/privacy/internet/cookies/

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/security/cookies/cookies.html

If it so happens you are interested in REAL, yummy cookies, go to:

http://www.cookierecipe.com/

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YOUR SITES OF THE WEEK
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Once a month we provide a short list of sites that you, our customers, have 
nominated for "Site of the Week," instead of offering our own choice.

Your fellow customers wrote all the reviews here, except where you see an 
"Editor's Note." We do not identify the nominators, but we do check out the 
sites before we post them here.

As you might guess, more sites are "nominated" than we can reasonably list.  
We decide what to include by answering these questions: Is it of general 
interest?  Is it suitable for a family audience?  If it is a "technical" 
site, is the advice likely to be good?  (By the way, these are NOT "paid" 
ads.)

Some of your sites were inspired by the "Back to School" feature two weeks 
ago.

http://www.VirginiaSOL.com  Please take a look at the VirginiaSOL.com web 
site.  VirginiaSOL offers elementary students free on-line tests in English, 
Science, Math, Virginia History and Technology.  The tests help prepare 
students for the Virginia Standard of Learning tests.  The site also provides 
great Links to most of the subject material.  Recently, educational books and 
games were added.

http://www.ipl.org/ Just thought you should have included this very nice site 
in your last weekend announcements for back to school kids.  The Internet 
Public Library. 

http://www.mla.org/  I have another to add to the list for Back to School 
sites -- For MLA Documentation (Including Internet resources).

http://www.nwf.org  The National Wildlife Federation website is chock-a-block 
with information for teachers and children.  We have free downloadable 
classroom activities for teachers, interactive games for children, 
information on how to create a backyard or schoolyard habitat for our wild 
friends, easy to understand background information on all kinds of endangered 
species, stories from "Ranger Rick," our award winning children's magazine, 
and in April we have an on-line festival to celebrate National Wildlife Week 
(and Earth Day).

http://www.highschoolalumni.com/  

Here are two customer-recommended "technical" sites:

http://www.pop3now.com It is really a great easy way to check your email 
anywhere in the world and it is secure.  I often use it to check my RCN email 
and if I am on another computer that is not mine or at a cybercafe I can get 
my email.  Just a great site and thought users would enjoy it. [Editor's 
Note: Although there are many sites like this one, this indeed is the type of 
site we recommend for checking your mail from "anywhere."]

Since we rarely list sites from our "Mac" customers, here is one:

http://www.blackcatsystems.com/ Black Cat Systems writes freeware and 
shareware software for the Macintosh. The programs cover a wide range, 
including science, education, health, ham radio, and of course, games.

And now, one strictly for laughs.  Folks, you have to try this one:

http://junior.apk.net/~jbarta/idiot/idiot.html How to keep an idiot busy.

===========================================================================
(PLEASE NOTE: We have an address to contact "Weekend Announcements." 
[email-masked]  Please use it to give us your ideas about what might go 
into the "Announcements." For example, your thoughts on what might be a 
useful "Tip of the Week," or your nominations for "Site of the Week."

We cannot promise to adopt every suggestion, or to answer each and every e-
mail. We DO promise, however, to read all your suggestions. Thanks!)

To contact us about problems you might be having with your Erols, RCN, or 
Starpower account, please use: [email-masked]

To contact us for help with a specific problem you might be having in using 
your software, please use: [email-masked]

The phone number for around-the-clock Tech Support, is 1 888 376 5638.

(DISCLAIMER: The Tip of the Week or Site of the Week do not necessarily 
reflect official Erols/RCN policy. We do not endorse these or any other 
external sites; we offer this for your information only. The Weekend 
Announcement is governed by our Internet Access Agreement, which you can find 
here:

http://www.erols.com/erols/index/agreement.htm)

We wish you a pleasant weekend!