Leo's Answers
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Leo Notenboom
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*** Contents
*** This Week's New Articles on Ask Leo!
How else can websites get my information?
In a series of three previous questions, What
can a website I visit tell about me? and
What are browser cookies and how are they used? and
What are tracking cookies and should they concern me? I discussed
some of the information that websites get automatically, or through
legitimate means by virtue of using cookies, and then how cookies can
be used "behind the scenes" by networks of websites to track your
visits to sites in the network.
In this article I'm going to cover three loose ends that while
unrelated to each other are other ways that websites can get
information you probably didn't realize you were giving them.
Continue reading: "How
else can websites get my information?"
http://ask-leo.com/how_else_can_websites_get_my_information.html
* * *
What are tracking cookies and should they concern
me?
In two previous questions, What
can a website I visit tell about me? and
What are browser cookies and how are they used? I discussed some of
the information that websites get, and techniques that they can use to
collect and remember more.
One particular part of the original question leads to today's
article:
Can [a] site collect ... my browsing history
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To be clear, a site cannot.
However, through clever use of cookies typically associated with
advertising, it is possible for some services to track who in their
network of advertisers you visit.
And thus we have "tracking" and "third party" cookies to talk
about.
Continue reading:
"What are tracking cookies and should they concern me?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_are_tracking_cookies_and_should_they_concern_me.html
* * *
What are browser cookies and how are they used?
In a previous question What
can a website I visit tell about me? I discussed the information
that's made available to all websites no mater what they do. The
original question included:
Can [a] site collect the following information:
- My computer name (the name I assigned to my computer)?
- Profile information???
- My browsing history (any/all sites I've visited and when) or can
they just tell the number of items in my history?
- Email addresses associated with my computer?
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The strict answer remains "no" to the question as posed, but in
reality things aren't quite that simple.
For example, web sites can remember what you tell them, and we often
tell them more than we think.
And the remembering? That's typically using something called a
"browser cookie".
Continue reading:
"What are browser cookies and how are they used?"
http://ask-leo.com/what_are_browser_cookies_and_how_are_they_used.html
* * *
Why can't I just use one password everywhere?
Can you use the same password for everything you need one for?
Having a lot of different ones is really hard to remember, to the point
that I have had to write each one down.
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Yes, you can use the same password everywhere, but I really
don't recommend it. It simply increases the risk of your accounts being
compromised.
There are several approaches to password management that don't
require using one password everywhere, and also don't require that you
remember dozens, if not hundreds, of different passwords.
Continue reading: "Why
can't I just use one password everywhere?"
http://ask-leo.com/why_cant_i_just_use_one_password_everywhere.html
*** A Word from our Sponsor
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*** Featured Comments
A sampling of some of the comments that have been posted recently on
Ask Leo!
* * *
I found a USB thumbdrive, plugged it in and now my system won't work.
What happened?
Scott Wright writes:
Great article, Leo. There are some good questions and responses
here. I just wanted to add my two cents worth. It turns out that many
people (about 40%) will put an unknown device into their computer, just
to see what's on it. I have the evidence, which I have summarized at my
site, The Honey Stick Project, at http://www.honeystickproject.com. The site was inspired by
the penetration test you mentioned above, and is intended to raise
awareness about the risks of using mobile devices, in general. The
technique I use in the project can be useful for measuring the level of
security awareness and safe computing habits in an organization. Please
drop by and give me your comments. One other note: As indicated in one
of the related article links above, it is possible for a device to be
configured to trick a system into bypassing autorun, depending on your
system. I have some notes about this on my site, also.
*
If I Had to
Do It All Over Again...
Rondi writes:
Now that I have girls who want to be writers, and was told by my
college comp. teacher that I should be a writer, I confess that good
writing is work, work, work. It takes effort, brains, time, and
sometimes, research. Those slave-driving language teachers in high
school were right on. You have to learn grammar, language mechanics,and
even literary techniques to be a good writer and communicator.
*** This Week's Most Popular
The ten most popular articles in the last 7 days on Ask Leo!
- How
do I make a new MSN Hotmail account?
-
How do I delete history items from my Google tool bar?
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How do I put a picture in a comment on myspace.com?
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My desktop Recycle Bin has disappeared - why, and how do I get it
back?
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What are the POP3 and SMTP settings for Hotmail?
- How
do I change my MSN Hotmail password?
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Can I send text messages between a computer and a cell phone?
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Why is my Task Manager disabled, and how do I fix it?
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What are MSN HotMail's POP3 and SMTP settings for Outlook
Express?
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I accidentally deleted my Recycle Bin in Vista - how do I get it
back?
*** Leo Recommends
Word Tips
Microsoft Word Tips, Tricks and Answers
I don't know everything. I know that's a shock to maybe one or two
of you, but it's the truth. One of the techniques I use to make it look
like I know more than I really do is to know where to look for
information.
Allen Wyatt's Word Tips is one of these places. Yes, I've used Microsoft
Word for many, many years and know it very well ... but Word Tips has more
answers and more suggestions than I could ever hope to have.
Continue reading:
"Word Tips - Microsoft Word Tips, Tricks and Answers"
http://ask-leo.com/word_tips_microsoft_word_tips_tricks_and_answers.html
I recommend it.
•
Each week I recommend a specific product or resource that
I've found valuable and that I think you may as well.
What does my recommendation mean?
*** Popular Articles from the Archives
It seems like everyone wants to know if
the email they send is being read. The problem is that while there are
settings and services that claim to be able to tell you, they can't do
it reliably.
Can I tell if email I sent has been read by the
recipient?
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I sent
an email to a friend and he claims never to have gotten it. I don't
believe him; things he's said lead me to believe that he did get it,
and that he did read it. Is there a way I can tell for sure?
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I'm actually fairly amazed at the number of times that I get
questions that boil down to people just not trusting each other. Not
that there isn't cause, I suppose, with spam, phishing and viruses
running all over the place. But this seems like the simplest case of
all - was your email read or not?
Interestingly enough there is infrastructure in the mail system to
get an answer to that question. The problem is that, for all practical
purposes, it doesn't work.
Continue reading...
Can I tell if email I sent has been read by the recipient?
http://ask-leo.com/can_i_tell_if_email_i_sent_has_been_read_by_the_recipient.html
*** Thoughts and Comments
Last week's question What
can a website I visit tell about me? actually blossomed into four
articles, three of which appear this week. It's a big issue, and I
could probably go on, but I wanted to cover the important and common
issues that people face. There's a lot of concern about privacy and how
your information might be collected and used. Personally, beyond
following a couple of simple safety tips, I'm not terribly concerned.
Regardless of how you feel, knowledge is the first step to staying
safe.
Minor milestone last week: we crossed 40,000 subscribers just before
last week's newsletter went out. Thank you all for
being here! I sincerely appreciate it.
Otherwise, a busy week here, so I'll have to keep this short.
Exciting stuff that I'll explain a little more next week, but there are
some change's a-brewin. No, nothing Ask Leo! related, at least not
directly. For now, I'll just have to keep you in suspense until next
week. 
•
As always, thanks for subscribing, for reading, and for your
feedback. If you appreciate this newsletter or the site, one of the
best ways you can say "Thank You!" is to link to Ask Leo! or
simply to tell a friend or colleague. Just send folks to askleo.net.
'till next time...
Leo A. Notenboom
* * *
A selection of Leo's articles are available for free re-use at
http://articlesbyleo.com.
You can also subscribe to Ask Leo! on your Kindle.
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Some of Leo's other sites: The Ask Leo! Store, Leo's Online Business Card, Forwarded
Funnies, Taming Email,
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Newsletter contents
Copyright © 2008, Leo A. Notenboom & Puget Sound Software,
LLC.
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Leo's Answers #146 - September 30, 2008
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Source: Leo's Answers #146 - September 30, 2008
