I realize this is not "on topic" for this forum, but it's the only forum in which I regularly post.

Ad-Aware put out an update today, and guess what, it alerted on 2 new cookies on my system. Both were data miners (info collectors/trackers) and one of them was from Remote Central. On my machine it's named "jim@cgi-bin[5].txt". It's also apparently the cookie that remembers my name and password. That's not a problem as I can get Windows to remember my info when I want to post, and a nice little freeware program from Active-X called Cookie Blocker automatically kills whatever cookies I specify. Normally I'd be pretty sure that this was some kind of error, but lately Spy-Bot has been blocking downloads of "threats" on this site as well.

Now, if pressed, I'll admit to being somewhat "fanatical" concerning internet security, really don't like being tracked, and this may be some sort of error. But if it's not, I'll also admit to being somewhat disappointed.

Jim L

I can't comment on what some of the "bulk advertising agencies" may be doing, but the cookie that remembers your name, password and last date on a particular forum... does exactly that and nothing more. The site works perfectly fine without cookies.

Thanks Daniel,

My comments certainly weren't meant to be derogatory. It's funny (to me at least) that all the major news organizations' websites come complete with adware and tracking cookies. You know, those organizations that would come unhinged if the government was doing the same thing to them.

I was also a little surprised and suspect RC's "registration cookie" is a mistake. I asked the question on Lavasoft's site and got several responses, but nobody (so far) can tell me why it's become an item of interest.

Jim L

Every once in awhile I run spyscan or some such app on my PC and they usually show every cookie as spyware. I guess if it keeps track of anything, that is how they classify them.
I do not pay much attention to thatstuff. i just try to surf smartly with moderate security

I understand, currently I have 367 cookies that are on my PC and not identified as "threats", on the other hand, there have been an additional 147 that are identified, and that I "kill" automatically. Contrary to what it may appear, they actually do evaluate the cookies content in order to decide if it's a threat or not. In this case however, I think someone erred.

Jim L

Well, it does store your password in an unencryped form, but I seriously doubt anyone needs a higher level of security for a mere forum. Note that if you block all cookies the "new" markers will be for the past 24 hours, rather than your last visit to a specific forum.

Looking at my cookie folder, I have 2,844.

Lots of milk and (chocolate chip?) cookies. Yum, yum!

My you do get around don't you??

Again, I think this was a mistake, and your word's good enough for me. Lavasoft evaluates cookies, adware etc using a predefined checklist and point system. It's a human doing the evaluation, not a machine. RC's cookie just showed up on the latest revision of the software, so it's a newly identified "threat". My question on their forum was why RC's "Hey I'm registered" cookie constitutes a threat, while, for example, Lavasoft's forum cookie isn't. Haven't got a response yet from anyone who knows, and probably won't.

Jim L

Are you sure it's the forum name/password one or the one that tracks your last visits? It's fairly easy to tell what's in the cookie just by looking inside it.

Yep, it's the name/password. It's named jim@cgi-bin[1].txt on my hard drive and the contents are:

nam
bomberjim|x-----------x
remotecentral.com/cgi-bin
1536
1323909120
29757030
1934498064
29623091
*

Password is x'd out.

Just FYI there's now a new reference file out for Adaware as of today, and this cookie is still being identified.

Jim L

The only thing that's mine is the first two lines (name of cookie = nam, contents = your username and password). The rest is added by the browser.