Cookies (W98)

[Hally]

Hi everyone, in my cookies folder I have cookies from the same site with different dates which ones can I delete without loosing passwords & personal settings the oldest ones or the newest ones. otherwise I will end up with lots of cookies that are just doing nothing. Also on the cookies subject can a person read cookies to find out passwords because I never thought until today I deleted a cookie then when I went to that cookies site again I had to re-enter my password, so from that I've worked out these cookies are the holders of our passwords (I'm so clever lol) A fairly serious subject though, is this true or have I just barked up the wrong tree?
Can anyone give me some advice please, much appreciated



<font color=blue>&gt;&gt;Hally&lt;&lt;
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[BertImmenschuh]

Hally, I just looked at the cookie for SC and there's no username or password showing.

This is a sample:
USERID
164xxxx0
www.smartcomputing.com/
1xxx
4xx7xxxxx8
30xxxx0x
4x6xxxx5xx
2x4xxxx0
*

For obvious reasons the x's represent numbers to obscure the true list. I looked at several others that I know use passwords and nothing showing in them either. I don't know how the username/password could be derived from the above except maybe by the writers of the cookie program. But then there is always someone trying to go where they shouldn't.


Good judgement comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgement

[Hally]

Hi Bert! Thanks for the reply! Would you agree though that the cookie somehow has the password locked in it, maybe the numbers are a code of some sort like the ones you put in your post.
How else would we explain if we delete a cookie for instance winguides cookies, & make no other changes, the next time we go to winguides it won't log us on until we've re-enter our password! My conclusion it must be in the cookie, what do you think


<font color=blue>&gt;&gt;Hally&lt;&lt;
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[JakeHaze]

Have fun.</font color=blue>[/b] (http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=decrypt+cookie+passwords>[b]<font)

[Hally]

Holy Cow /images/forums/icons/shocked.gif Thanks for that JakeHaze & it proves my thinking was definately on the right track. . . . it just makes us more aware of how safe or unsafe those user name & passwords are.

I suppose its just like anything in life thieves will get whatever they want if he\she really wants it bad enough, our car alarm wont stop a proffesional thief it will just take him 10 seconds longer to get it ha ha ha

Bye


<font color=blue>&gt;&gt;Hally&lt;&lt;
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[MnInShdw]

I don't know much about the cookies. But maybe it goes this way.

In a cookie the Username is registered but not the password. when you delete the cookie that www.winguides.com has made on your pc, the next time you access winguides, the site searches for its cookie and when the search returns an empty result, it's assumed that it's the first time your pc has accessed winguides.com, since there's no username available. and thus it's necessary to login by entering using name and password.

[report_2]

I thought I just replied to this post but do not find it so if turns out to be a double posting then I apologize.

I read somewhere recently that cookies can only be accessed by the server that has placed it on your PC.

I can not find that resource but I did a Google search and found another source saying the same thing.
http://www.blazonry.com/devnotes/cookies.php

"The information stored by the server that placed the cookie, can only be retrieved by that server that placed it. So if you go to one site, which stores your name in a cookie, no other site can retrieve that cookie, but the site that placed it."


Further to that concept...If a hacker can gain access to files on your PC then they could also read your cookies. If they can not access your files then they can not access your cookies either.
<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by report_2 on 10/17/02 20:06.</FONT></P>

[Hally]

Thanks for your thoughts report_2 & MnInShdw

I never gave it much thought before, but it seems if you could somehow read a cookie. . well you all know the rest. . . . devistating /images/forums/icons/shocked.gif it's not another site opening a wrong cookie that were worried about, its these Trojans & Hackers etc.



<font color=blue>&gt;&gt;Hally&lt;&lt;
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[Nana]

report_2,

I checked around and couldn't find any other post of yours resembling this one. Sorry.

Nana /images/forums/icons/smile.gif