Cookie Invasion

[memoemc2]

Gooday mates:

Yesterday, when I finished browsing using Firefox, I cleaned it using BetterPrivacy (LSOs) and

[exile360]

Greetings

Please download ATF Cleaner by Atribune from here and save the file to your desktop.

• Close all open browser windows
  
• Run ATF Cleaner by double clicking it.
  
• Once the program opens, click the Firefox button at the top
  
• Select Cookies and once that's all set click on the Empty Selected button and it will remove the cookies from your system.
  

[memoemc2]

Gooday mate:

Thanks for the info; I tried it and nothing happened, the bloody cookies are still there; the tool couldn't erase any of them.

what more can we do?

PLEASE HEEEEELP !!!! I'm being traced by the FBI and CSI Miami !!!

[exile360]

If you've done any browsing in between removing them and running Spybot S&D as well as ATF Cleaner, then they will come back. You can try to selectively remove each cookie in your Firefox settings (on the same menu in the picture you posted) to see if it will remove the cookies that way. If it does not, then let me know.

Keep in mind that all the ones I see in the image are simple ad cookies, which will always come back when you visit the webpages containing the ads. They are generally harmless, but there should be an option in Firefox to block cookies from those sites, however, you'd have to either check Firefox's site for info or get input from someone here who uses it, as I only browse with IE.

edit: I just noticed an extension attached to many/most of the cookies listed that says something similar to OptOut, which sounds like they're actually there to be blocked (perhaps with fake cookies that are set as read only so they can't be overwritten by the real cookies from those sites). Do you happen to use a plugin called Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO)? If so, I suspect it's the source, it could also be the method used by Spybot Search & Destroy to immunize against them (if you've used it's Immunize feature).

Please list the plugins that you use with Firefox, particularly any that are designed to block ads and such.

Thanks

[YoKenny1]

Not all cookies are bad and most tracking cookies can be blocked with a HOSTS file.

Blocking Unwanted Parasites with a Hosts File:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

I chose to use hpHosts and MVPS HOSTS file managed with HostsMan and its browser speedup proxy HostsServer:

http://forum.abelhadigital.com/index.php?showtopic=553

[exile360]

I believe they are blocked (please see the edit in my above post) by the Targeted Advertising Cookie Opt-Out (TACO) plugin and that's why the entries exist.

[memoemc2]

Gooday mates:

I tried everything to delete them except messing with the files (algorithm).default in Firefox folder

Yes, Exile360 is right I have installed TACO.

So TACO puts those cookies there and at the same time it blocks them just to neutralize them? therefore these cannot be overwritten.

Now everything makes sense is TACO. my other add-ons installed are:

adblock plus

answers

betterPrivacy

british english dictionary

colorful tabs

diccinario de espanol/espana

download statusbar

downloadhelper

downthemall

Extended Statusbar

febe

fireshot

flagfox

forecastfox

FoxClocks

foxtab

NoScript

gtranslate

stumbleupon

tab popup

tabCounter

TACO

undo closed tabs button

wot

ShowIP

Split Browser

Ixquick HTTPS Privacy Search Engine

SkipScreen

In conclusion, everything is OK. TACO neutralizes these cookies. I should have mention the add-ons installed.

Am I right??

[exile360]

Correct, TACO puts those cookies there, they are actually fake cookies, not the actual tracking cookies from those websites, and having them there tricks the webpages that contain those cookies (the real ones) into thinking that you've already got a tracking cookie, even when you don't, and when they try to put a cookie on your system it is blocked because the fake ones put there by TACO won't allow themselves to be replaced. The cookie files themselves have the same name, and Windows won't allow two files with the exact same name to exist in the same folder, so the new, real cookies can't be placed on your system .

[memoemc2]

Thanks a lot Exile360; you are a clever bloke.

This post was pure drama and paranoia of myself. I can't believe it. Maybe it was because 3 days ago I was forced to watch the "sex and the city" movie; and girly post-traumatic symptoms appeared. Sorry !

At least I learned more

[exile360]

You're very welcome . There's nothing wrong with being a bit paranoid, it just shows that you're paying attention. There's a lot of nasty stuff out there and that's why we're here, to try and stop it when we can, and clean up the messes that malware and other threats create.

If you need anything else just post.

Thanks