CCleaner: Best anti-tracking cookie program?

Theoretically, wouldn't CCleaner be the best anti-tracking cookie program to use? I know that it doesn't scan for or remove other types of malware such as trojans and keyloggers, etc., but for quick tracking cookie removal, wouldn't this program be considered the best? Also, whenever, I run CCleaner after using my computer, none of my other anti-malware scanners show the tracking cookies that they would usually detect if I hadn't run CCleaner first.(With the exception of a few text files that Lavasoft's Ad-Aware detects, but I'll discuss that in another thread.)

 

I have not used a more effective cookie remover. CCleaner cleans cookies better than Ace Utilities, which simply will not remove some cookies. McAfee had some sort of affiliation with doubleclick and when I used Norton 360 I noticed that it ignored Google cookies. CC has the option of using the yahoo toolbar but still recognizes and removes all yahoo cookies. I do not believe I have ever had a cookie that CCleaner did not recognize and remove- not sure what other programs can say that. But using CC is as effective as manually finding/removing cookies.

 

RCGuy have you considered using Firefox and the add on Cslite. You can then allow the cookies you want and not allow the cookies you don't want. Then you will have no cookies that need removing.

 

FF's "clear private data" under tools does a good job as well but CCleaner allows a list of cookies to keep which is handy for logins.

For me the best cookie and any/all malware cleaner is Sandboxie.

 

I think Ccleaner should be more considered a cookie manager, because of the handy cookie whitelist.
It isn't an anti-tracking cookie program; cookies can and will install until manually removed, either by using Ccleaner, or any other means you wish, since they are single entities and delete just like any other file.

 

Definitely not IMO. It,s ur browser. Set it properly and forget to clean/ scan any cookies.

 

CC not the best. Can only be one best. Cookie Monster (free) -- he da best! (munch munch gulp YUM)

 

does either cookiemonstor or that AMP calendar work on Vista? Their site does not say. Also, when was the last time cookiemonstor was updated? the ampsoft site does not really say- just a news release from this past August which may be the first news release since 2005.

 

IMO, no CCleaner is not the best anti-tracking cookie program. In my mind, that would be a managed HOSTS file from MVPS.org http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm or hpHOSTS http://hosts-file.net/
With either of these files, there is no cleanup needed. The cookies are never placed to begin with.

In addition to a managed HOSTS file, as a final tweaking cookie control, I also like and use CS Lite for Firefox. http://forum.softwareblaze.com/viewforum.php?f=7&sid=7d57002783bf7f7dbb3655600ef112aa With CS Lite, I screen all cookies that still try to come through and only allow the ones I want...

 

If you use an IE based browser, just set your cookie prefs to block all and manually allow the cookies you need. There's also a switch to allow session cookies.

 

Hi,

Tracking cookies are not that harmful, IMO.

Most AS apps regard them as low/lower risk substance. And their presences sometime will facilitate programs' performance.

Most AS can effectively remove them. But the most effective method is to
use sandbox/virtulization application. By its reboot and gone cycle, tracking cookies will never have left any traces. Take care.

 

Tracking cookies are not harmful at all. They are just useful in that they allow Mickey Mouse programs to say they have identified something bad.

 

XeroBank is the only software that I am aware of that is recognizing these Yahoo tracks and removing. See this thread for more details (and that one with 14 pages "Anyone using xB/Torrify"):

Yahoo: Sign and Seal

xB removes this tracks by asking you when he is started if you want to remove them. If you don't have them, he will do nothing (of course).

I believe CCleaner is not doing that because they are related somehow to Yahoo. You see CCleaner have Yahoo toolbar as option for you to install in the beginning?

I am using CCleaner only, for now. I will check different options later.

 

I CCleaner does much more then clean cookies works very well and best of all its free.As far as cookies go I Have firefox set to clear all private data when browser closed.no big deal here.

 

I don't know. I use XP.

 

In firefox, I use Spybot's blacklists and set the browser only to accept first party cookies in about:config

In IE7, I do the same thing (block all third party cookies).

 

I know it's a matter of taste and opinion but I use CookieWall by Analog X.
Have been for quite some time now.

 

I use IE Privacy Keeper on my XP Pro box. It has a cookie white list and all other cookies are deleted each time the browser is closed. It also deletes the entire IE temporary cache at the same time. Keep in mind that there are other when-to-clean choices such as system shutdown, etc. In addition, there are lots of other privacy options that I don't use. It's free.

 

CCleaner is not an anti-tracking cookie program. All it does is flush out the cookies in your cookie folder when you manually scan. That means they sit there on your pc until you run CCleaner. That's not anti-tracking. I had an obsession about 12 months ago with finding the right cookie program. I wanted something that would delete the cookie as soon as it arrives but with the option of a whitelist for good cookies(Wilders username and password login cookie). I also wanted one that if I didn't have my cookie app running and went browsing and got a dozen or more cookies, then once I ran my cookie app then it would remove the existing one's. Oddly enough not all cookie apps do this as I found out. I tried about 20 different apps in the space of 6 months. After all that trying/trialing I would say that the one's I preferred(and definetly not in order of preference) were:

Cookiepal
Cookiewall
Realtime Cookie & Cache cleaner
Cookiecrusher

Tracking cookies tell a website which website you were previously at. Look at the cookies on your HDD and some are made up using your login name. Any cookie that has your login name and is feeding info to someone about your browsing habits is an invasion of privacy. That's why I use an anti-tracking cookie application.

muf

 

Long View, I have used Firefox before, but never really could get use to it and went back to using IE. But as far as setting something up where you can allow the cookies you want and not allow the cookies you don't want, the problem that I see with that is that if a person is doing research on a subject or surfing the web, they are constantly accessing and discovering new sites, therefore, it would be an ongoing(and probably tedious) process for a person to do a setup like that. I would think that it would just be easier to do a quick cookie scan and delete after using one's computer.

 

I also appreciate CCleaner's feature of allowing a list of cookies to keep, but as far as Sandboxie is concerned, that is software that I really don't know that much about, but am interested in learning about.

 

That looks interesting. I'll have to look at it in more detail.

Blocking all and only allowing the ones that you need sounds like an interesting suggestion, but as far as session cookies go, I had read that there are some potential problems with session cookies.

True, but they're still considered as spyware.

 

So, muf, was there one that you finally decided upon or do you use all four?

 

RCGuy try this :

Using Firefox add CSlite. Then ALL cookies can be banned. Unlike Crapcleaner
cookies don't get on your machine so you don't have to clean them.

OK so now you visit a site which needs a cookie. You can either allow this cookie permanently ( because you trust the site and intend to visit often) or you con give temporary permission - it will be gone when you log off or you can continue to deny and loose some functionality on that site.

Over time you build up a white list and keep all the "good" cookies and deny all the "bad" cookies.

 

That would take care of most tracking cookies but it may be a bit inconvenient to someone who often surfs to new sites. I tried that method, but building up a whitelist for cs lite (and nosript) was not for me, so I set cs lite to only allow first-party cookies and noscript to allow top level domains. BTW, cs lite comes with a pretty decent blacklist. Also, Opera claims to deny tracking cookies by default. From their website (drum roll):