How to Reduce Tracking Cookies
Many websites place cookies on your computer to streamline your Internet experience. Most do no harm to you or your computer. Some track everything you do online and send it back to the originating website, usually for advertising purposes. Some of these tracking cookies record your passwords, addresses and credit card numbers for malicious purposes. You can significantly reduce the number of tracking cookies on your computer.
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Instructions
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Update your anti-virus software and run regular scans. Most anti-virus software identifies and deletes tracking cookies. If you do not have anti-virus software installed on your computer, you put your computer at serious risk of being infected with tracking cookies and computer viruses. You should not use the Internet without anti-virus software installed and operating on your computer.
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Opt out of advertising network tracking cookies. Google runs the biggest advertising network on the Internet. The network automatically places a tracking cookie on your computer unless you tell it not to. To opt out, visit the Google Privacy Center and click the "Opt Out" button.
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Clean your browser's history, cache and cookies. Internet browsers store a list of every site that you visit, and some files from those sites, to speed up your Internet browsing. Tracking cookies feed off of your Internet history. Regularly delete your history and cache to stop them. In Firefox, select the "Tools" menu, followed by "Clear Recent History." In Internet Explorer, select the "Tools" menu, followed by "Internet Options." Then, under the "General" tab, click the "Delete" button.
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Tips & Warnings
To stop all tracking cookies from downloading onto your computer, you can set your browser's security options to block all cookies. However, this blocks both harmful and harmless cookies, which slows down your Internet experience.
References
Resources
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