Windows 10: Are cookies tracking me?

I use Google Chrome but I don't regularly clear my cookies so as a consequence I have a looong list of saved cookies. Is it possible that many of these sites that I don't even regularly visit are still tracking my web browsing? Should I consider clearing my cookies and making a whitelist?

:)

 

Tracking cookies

Over the past few months , a plethora of tracking cookies has appeared on the web! Even some fairly innocuous sites which I occasionally visited over many years have started dumping tracking cookies on my pc! What is happening? AVG quarantines these cookies
as minor threats. Is there some way to prevent these cookies being dumped on my pc? It is a nuisance! Thanks guys

 

Tracking cookies

Edit: I didn't see the full quote by
José Antonio Pontón Posada CEO so I removed my reply.

 

Cookies are mainly used to make life simpler for you a its stores on your pc not the server your preferences for the site so you dont have to enter info every time you visit they are not normally any problem delete them and you may have to answer question again on your next visit or set thing up again depending on the site

 

More infos on different cookie types and their use: HTTP cookie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia *Wink

 

Quite a lot to know about cookies. What are the main ones to be security conscious of? Third party tracking cookies? I'm using the Disconnect extension that minimizes cookie tracking I believe...

At this stage, for someone who hasn't cleared cookies in a long time is it good practice to do so every now an then?

 

That really depends on you internet habits.
If you pretty much just go to the same sites, all the time and trust them, you don't need to worry about it, as the next time you go any where, they will be back/recreated.

Being that I use Ccleaner I just save/whitelist the cookies from sites I frequent by moving them to the right side, such as Ten Forums and ALL Microsoft's sites and services, and leave the ones I do not want or need on the left side, to be deleted when I finally run the cleaner.

 

What are the cookies that ccleaner lists on the left side to be whitelisted? There's no where near the amount of cookies shown here as I actually have stored in my browser.

 

Ccleaner shows cookies for all the installed browsers it recognizes, in my case Edge, IE11, Firefox, and Chrome.
All new cookies are on the left and will be deleted when I run Ccleaner, unless, I move them to the right side to save them.

Here is a list of the ones I prefer to keep(you will notice the majority have to do with Windows & Microsoft:

Code: #AppContainer 2.bing.com 2016_MicrosoftOfficeOnline_8wekyb3d8bbwe C:\WINDOWS\help\mui\0409\mmc.chm:: a.config.skype.com a.lw.skype.com a4.bing.com account.live account.live.com account.microsoft account.microsoft.com accounts.firefox.com accounts.google.com addons.cdn.mozilla.net addons.mozilla.org amd.com answers.microsoft answers.microsoft.com api.accounts.firefox.com api.bing.com api.skype.com apis.google.com apps.skypeassets.com archive.org asm.skype.com bambit.kabel-email bambit.kabel-email.de bay04.calendar.live bay406-m.hotmail.com bing.com bing.com/rewards bleepingcomputer.com blocklist.addons.mozilla.org blog.malwarebytes blog.malwarebytes.org blog.malwarebytesQTQAN14W blogs.microsoft blogs.microsoft.com blogs.skype blogs.skype.com blogs.windows blogs.windows.com blogs.windows.com/windows buildfeed buildfeed.net c.bing.com c.live.com c.microsoft.com c.microsoftstore.com c.msn.com c1.microsoft c1.microsoft.com c1.skype.com calendar.google calendar.google.com calendar.google.com/calendar calendar.live.com channel9.msdn channel9.msdn.com chrome.google.com clients5.google.com community.office365.com community.skype community.skype.com community.skype.com/realtime/notification community.spiceworks.com controls.cp.microsoft controls.cp.microsoft.com cyberghostvpn.com designermedia.com dev.windows.com developer.microsoft developer.microsoft.com discovery.addons.mozilla.org docs.google.com dps.bing.com drive.google.com dub117.mail.live education.microsoft education.microsoft.com eightforums.com en.wikipedia en.wikipedia.org excel.officeapps.live excel.officeapps.live.com excel.officeapps.live.com/x/_layouts feedbackhub.link foreca.com forum.piriform.com forums.malwarebytes forums.malwarebytes.org fpt.microsoft fritz.box gifmaker.me gizmodo gizmodo.com gmic gmic.eu gmic.sourceforge gmic.sourceforge.net go.microsoft.com google.com google.com/settings google.de google.de/verify googleusercontent.com gwallet.com h.bing.com h.live.com hangouts.google hangouts.google.com heartbeat.skype.com helpdesk.kdgforum.de howtogeek.com ieonline.microsoft.com intel.com java.com knowledgebase.macrium knowledgebase.macrium.com kundenportal.bambit.de lenovo.com live.com login.live login.live.com login.skype.com login.ubuntu.com lw.skype.com macrium.com mail.google mail.google.com mail.google.com/mail mail.google.com/mail/u/0 mail.live.com majorgeeks.com malwarebytes.com malwarebytes.org mediastream.microsoft microsoft-news.com microsoft.com microsoftedgetips.microsoft microsoftstore.com mozilla.org msdn.com msdn.microsoft msdn.microsoft.com msn.com myaccount.google.com mywot.com news.google.com news.microsoft news.microsoft.com news.softpedia news.softpedia.com notification.adblockplus.org oauth.accounts.firefox.com office.com office365.com onedrive.live onedrive.live.com onedrive.uservoice.com onenote.com onenote.officeapps.live.com onenote.officeapps.live.com/o onlinestores.metaservices.microsoft.com/serviceswitching outlook.live.com outlook.live.com/owa ox-d.majorgeeks.com people.directory.live people.live.com picpick.org piriform.com plugins.mozilla.org plus.google plus.google.com polarity.boards.net polarityweb.weebly polarityweb.weebly.com profile.accounts.firefox.com profile.live.com profile.microsoft.com samsung.com secure.flashtalking secure.skype secure.skype.com security.google security.google.com self-repair.mozilla.org services.addons.mozilla.org sevenforums.com skype.com skypewebexperience.live.com social.msdn.microsoft.com social.technet.microsoft social.technet.microsoft.com softpedia.com sourceforge sourceforge.net speedtest.net ssl.bing.com store.malwarebytes.org store.office.com stores.office stores.office.com support.amd support.amd.com support.cdn.mozilla.net support.google.com support.lenovo support.lenovo.com support.microsoft support.microsoft.com support.mozilla support.mozilla.org support.office support.office.com support.office.microsoft support.office.microsoft.com support.office.microsoft.com/client support.skype.com support2.microsoft.com sway sway.com technet.microsoft technet.microsoft.com techreport.com tenforums.com tweaking.com ubuntuforums.org userstyles userstyles.org uservoice.com virustotal.com vlscppe.microsoft.com vodafone-affiliate.de vodafone.de web.skype web.skype.com web.vortex.data.microsoft winaero windows.com windows.microsoft.com windowssearch.com www.amd.com www.bing.com www.bleepingcomputer.com www.eightforums.com www.google.com www.google.de www.googleapis.com www.howtogeek.com www.intel.com www.libreoffice.org www.macrium.com www.malwarebytes.org www.malwarebytes.org/antiexploit www.microsoft www.microsoft.com www.microsoft.com/en-us www.microsoftstore.com www.microsoftstore.com/store/msusa/en_us/cat/windows www.microsofttranslator.com www.mozilla.org www.msn.com www.msn.com/spartan www.mywot.com www.office.com www.onenote.com www.sevenforums.com www.skype.com www.softpedia.com www.speedtest.net www.stadt.bamberg.de www.stadtwerke-bamberg.de www.tenforums.com www.tweaking.com www.virustotal.com www.wikipedia.org www.windowssearch.com www.youtube.com youtube.com ~~local~~/f:/downloads[/quote]

 

I thought I could go through the list of locally stored cookies through Chrome's settings (which is a lot) delete the ones I don't want and also use that as a reference for sites I want to whitelist...

I'm mainly worried about any third party tracking cookies that could be active, I've now started using the Disconnect extension which I believe prevents third party tracking all together?





What is the difference between the ones that say cookie/s and the Local Storage ones?

 

Deleting cookies manually? You do realise? the next time you go on the net and click around, many will be back?

See these sites:

All About Computer Cookies - Session Cookies, Persistent Cookies,How to Enable/Disable/Manage Cookies

What are Internet Cookies and What Do Cookies Do? - Webopedia.com

http://www.cookiecentral.com/cm002.htm

 

@Cliff S Ok so that would be a waste of time. Instead I could use the list as a reference for the sites I want to whitelist and make a whitelist in either Ccleaner or Chrome.

The main point is, is there a risk of third party tracking or unwanted cookies from all of the one off or random sites that we visit by letting cookies accumulate?

 

If you turn them off in your browser, no.

 

I saw this option the other day and enabled it but a lot of websites were complaining about something, I can't remember what exactly so I'll have to try it again.

Apart from the trackers cookies are pretty harmless aren't they? I mean the data is only stored on our computers and only readable by the connected website if we visit it again right?

 

This is the pop up I get when enabling the block third party cookies. Is this referring solely to third party cookies?