Tech Gringo

Flash Cookies: Hidden Menace?

I am very concerned about privacy online. If I am using my computer at home, I dutifully clean out my cache from time to time and clean out my cookies on a regular basis. If I am using a computer at an internet cafe, I will do it when I first start using the computer and once again when I am completely finished. Just to be sure, I’ll even shut down the browser. I am so concerned about online privacy that I use Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

I thought that I was taking proper precautions, but I thought wrong. I never knew that Flash, the browser plugin that powers many web applications, stores cookies of its own. I never even gave it a thought, but when I decided to check out my Flash settings, boy did I get a surprise. Dozens of websites that I have visited since I built this computer had stored flash cookies within the flash application folder. That means that those websites could track my visits to them on a regular basis. I find that just freaky. These aren’t the cookies you can delete inside your privacy settings in your browser, these are separate.

If you are like me, you don’t like having cookies that stay forever on your computer. While Adobe Flash doesn’t advertise that Flash stores cookies and they don’t make it well known how to change your Flash settings, it is relatively easy to clean out Flash cookies.

Here’s how you do it:

Visit http://www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager07.html. This is where you can adjust many Flash settings, but we are interested primarily in the Flash cookies.

On this page, you’ll see something that looks like this:

Scroll through the list and you can see the literally dozens of sites that put these Flash cookies on your hard drive. Sites like Google Adwords, Youtube and Paypal are there along with sites you might never remember visiting. Freaky, isn’t it?

Now it’s time to delete these cookies. This is the easiest part, just click on the button that says Delete all sites and the cookies vanish and your computer is once again clean.

Have You Seen The Amazing Amazon Kindle?

If you love reading great books like I do, then you’ll love the Amazon Kindle. It’s the latest in electronic book technology that allows you to have a book like reading experience with the ease of an electronic book.

How does it do this? The Amazon Kindle Ebook reader utilizes a special type of imaging display called electronic paper. It mimics the contrast and light reflection qualities of paper so that it reads just as easily as a book. If you are like me, it’s hard to read off of the computer screen, but it’s much easier when you use the Kindle’s electronic paper.

It weighs just 10.3 ounces so it’s easy to take it wherever you go. It’s about the same size as a hard cover book, but it not only allows you to read books, but with the built in Sprint wireless connection, you can subscribe to magazines and newspapers that get delivered right to your Kindle without you needing to do anything, how easy is that? Just subscribe to the newspaper and every morning, you’ll have a fresh copy of a leading newspaper just waiting for you to read.

The Amazon Kindle is all about putting the power of information right in your hands. That’s why it’s such a great tech product.

The best way to learn more about the Amazon Kindle is to visit the Amazon Kindle site and see for yourself.

About TechGringo.com

TechGringo.com is your site for tech news, tech products, tech viewpoints and more. It’s your window on the tech world through the eyes of a traveling gringo. It’s really an amalgamation of a tech blog, a travel blog and a personal blog.

If you would like to advertise or have one of your products featured here on TechGringo.com, drop me an email at info@techgringo.com.