I wrote an article last year on deleting temporary internet settings, passwords, cookies, and browser history. I will define what those terms mean in a minute.
What I did not realize at the time is that more and more security sites such as credit card payments, bank statements, and some others use cookies to authenticate you as the person on the computer.
Most of these security type sites usually ask you a question such as:
• Are you going to use this computer in the future?
• Do you want to remember me?
• Is this your own or public computer?
A couple of months ago I setup one of my credit cards so that I can pay the bill on line. Everything was set without any problems. I performed maintenance on my computer and erased cookies. A month passed by and I went back to the credit card site to pay my following months bill. I tried to log in and it said I was not authorized to log in.
I had to go through the process again of authenticating that I was indeed the owner of the credit card. Again, the account was setup successfully. At this time I did not associate the deleting of the cookies a few weeks prior with why I could not log in.
Here is how I discovered I was deleting the financial information myself:
My computer started running slow again last week. I ran a free spyware removal program called Malwarebytes. I also ran Spybot Search and Destroy and Lavasoft’s Adware. I use three different anti-spyware removal programs because one is not enough. They all have their specialties and you need to use at least three applications to remove most of the spyware on your computer.
The next step that I took was to start Internet Explorer and click on the Tools menu, where I selected Internet options and the following window opened:
• Under the General Tab in the middle of the window is a section called Browsing History.
• Clicking on the Delete button brings up the following window:
You will notice in the above window the definitions of:
• Temporary Internet Files
• Cookies
• History
• Form data
• Passwords
The option you should do periodically is the top one – Temporary Internet Files. My mistake was clicking on Delete Cookies. This is where the credit card site and my bank site lost all of its information to authenticate me as a valid owner / user.
NOTE: This was the second time that I deleted all of the information and had to go through the authentication process again. But now I know and it will not happen again.
You should delete all cookies at least every quarter, otherwise your computer will become overloaded with thousands of cookies.
The spyware programs also remove cookies, but these cookies are the harmful ones that have been identified, many of which were from Internet users. They also find the harmful cookies through phishing and fraudulent sites.
The other options on the page I do not use. Unless I wanted to cover up where I have been, I do not see a need to delete history.
I do not let Windows remember password or form data. I use a product called Robo Form.
This is a password protected software application that remembers your information. It installs a toolbar in Internet Explorer and FireFox, and it is very easy to use. I highly recommend Robo Form, especially if you logon to a lot of sites, subscribe to newsletters, and fill out forms.
Thanks for reading this issue. You will receive another newsletter next week.
John
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