I used Cookie Monster for years to clean cookies. I then found they have it as an Add-on for Firefox, which is great. I clean out unwanted cookies at least every day, and usually after I have visited several websites and logged off.
One recurrent one that I fail to understand is Skype. I do not have, nor do I use that, so I can’t understand how it puts a cookie on my computer. I have checked as I go along, and can’t figure out where it comes from.
I delete it every time, but am curious. Any idea what website is putting the damned thing there?
I thought this sounded like a pretty cool add-on. I installed it and have no idea what to do with it or how to use it. I tried Googling and got even more lost.
“Cookie Monster” should show up on the menu bar. If you click on it, the drop down menu gives you the choice of “View Cookies,” and then “Show Cookies for All Sites.”
If you click this, you get a list of all the ones on your computer. You can delete them all, but if you visit sites that you want to keep signed in, then you should leave thosethere, and delete all the rest.
I just highlight the first one (Amazon), and use the down key to keep going, deleting as I go along, or skipping the ones I want to keep.
Well, I appreciate your help Geoff, but I don’t have a “Cookie Monster” option on my menu bar. Yes, I restarted Firefox. Where should it appear, after “Help” or something?
In the interest of minimalism, do you guys know there’s a way to clean out cookies within Firefox itself without the need of an extra program or add-on? Click Tools on the menu, then Options. In the box that appears, select Privacy at the top, and click Show Cookies… And there they are to be deleted or not.
You’re welcome. FF has worked that way for as long as I can remember, but admittedly, my memory doesn’t go back all that far.:(.
At the risk of straying too far from the topic, you can also block ads without an extra program or add-on by using the hosts file. I’m a bit of a minimalist, efficiency freak, but it has the advantage of using up fewer resources.
I swear though, that before I downloaded Cookie Monster, the cookies in the Privacy Tab were randomly named and I couldn’t tell which cookie was from which site: the folders were gobbledygook and so were the cookies.
After downloading Cookie Monster, the cookies in both CM and FF are named so I can understand them.
Can anyone validate this claim? If you don’t have CM installed can you tell, for example, which cookies are from The Toronto Star, etc. in FF alone?
That occurred to me too when I read the OP but I just have WAGs. Maybe two more clicks is too much effort for some people, or it could be for nerdier types who want a gadget for everything. Or maybe there’s another advantage to Cookie Monster we’re not aware of. Really don’t know.
Could be a third-party cookie. You visit www.acme.com and there happens to be some content on that page from skype.com, such as an advert. If your browser is configured to accept third-party cookies (many are, by default), it will allow skype.com to store a cookie.
