what is a tracking cookie

It's put there by the CIA and MI6 so they know what your up to!

A sneaky little data collector that monitors your web surfing activity. They're usually harmless, but they do tell their 'owners' what you've been looking at and which websites you've visited.

You'll find the common ones are;

adviva, doubleclick, servingsys, tradedoulber, euroclick etc.

A good internet security suite will get rid of them for you. I use AVG, which you can get for free, or as I have done, the fully paid version.

Most such software will identify the cookies, but usually only the 'paid-up' versions will actually delete them. They always come back again, next time you visit a website that supports them, but in the meantime, their 'sneaky peek' is interupted.

Personally, I think they are an invasion of privacy. they are placed on your PC without your consent, and without your knowledge.

BT-Yahoo are particularly bad hosting these 'cookies'.

Watch the messages at the bottom left of your screen, and you'll very often see the names of the cookies and their owner's websites being displayed.

Annoyingly, they also slow down your PC during the 'redirecting' period (that's the moment where they give YOUR details to the cookies' owners).

A piece of data that will be put at your browser cache and will be able to track your surfing behaviour (for normal and legal reasons or not) over your surfing session (or until you delete the cookie)

Web Generic Favorite Sites :

http://www.opera.com/ : Fastest Browser on Earth and Mars ...

http://www.gr.com/ : Dynamic Search Engine Based on Google ...

http://www.handdrawngames.com/DesktopTD/game.asp : Addictive Flash Strategy Game ...

http://www.zamzar.com/ : Online file conversion service

A specially trained Rich Tea that hunts down all the Jaffa's and penguins, and Jammie Dodgers.