[SATLUG] Re: Security

[Eric Hobbs]

On Sat, 2004-05-01 at 11:10, John Williams wrote:
> Well, turning off cookies is not an option.  Even legit websites don't allow access with cookies off.
> 
> So, I loaded VmWare on my Windows XP Home computer.  I then loaded windows 2000 and windows XP in 2 seperate VM's.
> 
> I use one for checking email and official stuff on the net.
> 
> I use the other one for surfing, this way if there are BS cookies loaded (or trojans) they can't harvest passwords or personel info.  There is nothing in the VM for them to find>:-)  fsck the people writting this code...they are low lifes!
> 
> BTW, you can run linux or BSD in a VM with VmWare.  I know OpenBSD 3.4 works:-)

If you use Mozilla or Firefox, configure them to allow cookies from the
originating site only, and have them prompt you before accepting the
cookie.  That way, you get to deny/allow cookies however you wish.  If
you check the "remember this setting" box when the cookie prompt comes
up, you can deny or allow cookies from a particular site forever.
Allowing only cookies from the "originating site only" drops most of the
cookies associated with banner ads and other cruft right off the bat.

Sure, there's a bit of initial clicking involved, but after a short
time, you won't be bothered much if you generally visit the same web
sites day after day.  It's kind of like those personal firewalls on
Windows: there's a bunch of clicking initial as you "train" the
firewall, but it's not much bother after that.

--Eric