What are Internet Cookies and What do they used for?
What are Internet Cookies?
It’s read by your browser (check if you’re using the latest version) to pull out information. They track things such as remembering what’s in a shopping cart or login details, it will make browsing more convenient for us.
In the past, Cookies are stored in a plain text file created by websites you have visited and saved on your hard disk and that file may contain thousands of cookies from different URLs that you may have visited.
Today, it’s usually a single file that contains all of your cookies but if you open it up with notepad, you can not see what is actually inside it.
It includes some sort of PII (personally identifiable information), which is the data you have already provided such as address, names and postcodes, which in turn will auto-fill that information for you next time you revisit the same website. another example will be login details (username and password).
Cookies are found inside the Network folder.
What do they used for?
They do Personalize Information.
Targets Advertising.
Affects how a site presents for you depending on what’s in your cookie.
Geographic location. its remember your default location.
Faster logon by remembering devices.
Track shopping carts. it remembers what you have in your shopping cart.
Different types of Cookies
First Party Cookie. Created by the actual website and it’s normally safe on reputable sites.
Third Party Cookies. They do tracking for your activities on the site and gives you more ads.
Cookies Risk
They might share more data and information than you want to share.
The cookies should expire in a reasonable amount of time and not present at your browsing for long time.
Cookie can’t spread spyware/malware directly (not executable code) but they could be used by malware (can read what is inside the cookie to collect more data about you).
Zombie cookies which get created by some kind of malware.
If you’re care too much about cookies, consider clear cookies and site data when you close all windows.
It’s sometimes useful for troubleshooting as you delete them or reset your browser which in turn delete all cookies.
To see all cookies and site data in you browser such as Chrome.
You can also Clear cookies and site data when closing the browser.
Are you frustrated with your PC running slow and freezing up?
A computer is an electronic device that processes data and performs calculations at high speed. It is composed of several components, including a central processing unit (CPU), memory, storage, input/output (I/O) devices, and a motherboard. The CPU is the brain of the computer, responsible for executing instructions and performing calculations. Memory is used to store data and instructions for the CPU to access. Storage is used to store data and programs for long-term use. Input/output devices allow the user to interact with the computer, such as a keyboard, mouse, and monitor. The motherboard is the main circuit board of the computer, connecting all the components together.
You are not alone. Many people experience this issue and it can be caused by a variety of factors. In this article, we will explore the most common causes of why your PC is running slow and freezing up, as well as some tips on how to fix the issue.
There are a few potential causes that can lead to a decrease in your computer’s performance. These can include things like
Insufficient RAM.
Older generation CPU.
Disk drive fragmentation.
Slow Hard Drive.
Battery saver mode. the processor may be throttled to run slower when in battery saver mode.
If your computer is running slowly, there are a few steps you can take to help speed it up.
Replace the hard drive with SSD (Solid State Drive).
Empty temp folder %localappdata%Temp
Check for viruses and malware: Run a full system scan to detect and remove any malicious software that may be slowing down your computer.
Uninstall unused programs: Uninstall any programs that you no longer use to free up disk space and improve performance.
Update your operating system: Make sure you have the latest version of your operating system installed to ensure you have the latest security patches and bug fixes.
Clean up your hard drive: Delete any unnecessary files and folders to free up disk space and improve performance.
Add more RAM: Adding more RAM can help improve performance if your computer is running low on memory.
Disable startup programs: Disable any programs that start automatically when you turn on your computer to reduce the number of resources being used.
Defragmenting your hard drive: Defragmenting your hard drive can help improve performance by reorganizing the data on your hard drive.
Adjust your power settings: Adjust your power settings to ensure your computer is using the most efficient power plan.
Check for hardware issues: Check for any hardware issues that may be causing your computer to run slowly.
Trojan: software that user installs, it looks like a gift but in the backdoor, it’s doing something else.
Virus: software that the user has interact with it to propagate to other hosts or other programs within a system.
Worm: self-propagating viruses. if it’s on your PC, it looks for more vulnerabilities and expand on its own without user interaction. consumes resources (memory and processing)
Polymorphic: (Poli -> Many) it appears different every time it activates, needs anti-malware/virus software that looking for a specific signature or pattern, if it’s changing every single time it executes, that’s hard to catch.
Armored. built in with structure that it’s hard to reverse engineer to check how it was created.
Bot: little agent that runs on a computer. which can take instructions and do those things
Spyware: kind of malware that’s essentially looking at everything you’re doing, or can identify where you’re going and sends to a collection site. Spyware will open a connection, and collect information such as my browsing habits, and other data, and then send it to a collection site.
Crypto-Malware: pop up message that says “congratulations”. All your data is encrypted and you don’t have the key to decrypt it. Asking for money.
Rootkit: give you limited access to your systems, so hard to detect unless you have specific software that’s looking for that underlying rootkit.
Botnet: Bot installed on a ton of computers then a hacker with a command communicates with them and run them to activate something malicious.
Ransomware: malware that holds your system and/or data hostage. Data is held hostage until you pay the ransom. spreads via phishing attacks
