Important Information
For Editors, Writers, Teachers,

Meet the Cookie Monster

Many teachers and virtually all the students I have sat down with don't really know what a cookie is. With that in mind, here is my description:
A cookie may be information, a file, or a code, installed on YOUR computer by the site you are visiting without your knowledge or awareness. If you don't have your options set to ask you before accepting them, you won't even know your computer is accepting cookies.
They will be set in your computer automatically.

Cookies do serve good and wholesome purposes in most instances. Some cookies are set in order to tell the webmaster you have been there, other cookies might trigger some interesting pyrotechnics, or to play music. But there are also an unknown number of other cookies which might do actual damage to your computer either by accident, or even by design.

In my opinion, Cookies are not a minor problem. At just one site I went to, and from just one page on that site, I was offered 17 (SEVENTEEN) cookies. Then one site for children had a total of 54 cookies. Now, I am the first to admit that 999,999 cookies out of a hundred are good cookies out there. It is the OTHER 99 you have to worry about.

I am sure Reputable sites like Microsoft Network, know why they need to set multiple cookies on every computer cruising to their site. I am sure they are cautious about the cookies THEY are setting. After all, Microsoft invented Internet Explorer and Windows 95 and you know as well as I do you never have any trouble with them crashing or anything, do you? 

But, do you want to trust human nature that every site your students choose to browse to will have the same high moral standards as Microsoft? Do you want to trust (for example) the cookies dished up to your computers by Sally's Sweet Sweat Shop when your students come cruising? Considering the cost of school computers, when your students are surfing the web you might want to observe the motto I practice... "There are good cookies and there are bad cookies.

On the theory that I can't tell one cookie from the other and my computer has already been blown completely out of the water fourteen times, I don't take any cookies." 

Here's How To Protect Your Computers in Netscape

• Go to OPTIONS on the top row of words on your browser. The other words, from left to right, are: FILE, EDIT, VIEW, GO, BOOKMARKS -- Then, OPTIONS. Click on OPTIONS.
• Click on NETWORK PREFERENCES
• Click on PROTOCOLS
• You will come to a page that says: "Show an alert before "
• Click on the ACCEPTING A COOKIE box.
• Click on the OKAY tab at bottom.
• To turn on the Cookie alert feature in IE simply choose Options... from the View pull down menu at the top of your browser window, then select the Advanced tab. In the dialog box that appears, make sure the Do Not Warn Before Accepting Cookies check box, is NOT selected.
• IE will now alert you when a site is trying to give you a cookie, and it will give you the opportunity to deny the site access to your computer.
• The Complete Cookie Site has some great information.
• More tips are available from Cobb.

• Virtually the same process works on other versions of Internet Explorer too. For other browsers, contact your administrator.
• Teachers who need more help or advice are invited to visit the Bug Catcher site of the web. And, also go to my Pagemaker page for sources of professional help distributed free, which I have personally evaluated and found to be super. I also recommend a magazine called ComputerLife produced by Ziff Davis and found on major racks. An astonishing 90% of what the magazine has to say is actually understandable by the normal human mind. The on-line version is not nearly as good as what comes off the magazine rack. The only other magazine I recommend for constant study is NetGuide by CMP, also found on major racks, this one is so good, I actually paid for it, until they new and improved it!
• Education World is a complete Internet resource for educators located at <http://www.education-world.com>. O'Reilly & Associates is recognized worldwide for its definitive books on the Internet and UNIX.  Building on its expertise, O'Reilly & Associates has expanded into Internet-related software and market research.
• Teachers, Are any of your students allowed to make home pages for themselves, or for the school?

There are other hazards out there for your personal computers... Here is a review of what Brad Silverberg has to say: February 20, 1997 From the Office of Brad Silverberg Senior Vice President Microsoft Corporation 1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 "Malicious code can be written and disguised in many ways -- within application macros, Java™ applets, ActiveX™ controls, Navigator plug-ins, Macintosh® applications, and more." The FULL letter is available for your use at: Microsoft Security:

No advice on this site should be used
without first contacting a professional in that field.  
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