Browser & Cookie Filters  

Cookie Jar  www.meer.net/~ericm/cookie_jar/

Eric Murray's Cookie Jar lets you set up a configuration file to allow only certain sites to send you cookies. Like Proxomitron, it can do some HTML editing on the fly, and can stop the browser from sending revealing information to web servers. It can block connections to certain sites or to path names in URLs. Cookie Jar needs to be run from a UNIX shell account with Perl. (Freeware)

IDcide Privacy Companion  www.idcide.com

Track the trackers! IDcide is a browser add-on that protects from tracking cookies, gives info on the trackers, stops data spills through ads and web-bugs, and blocks referrer info from being sent. Simple to use with an excellent help file, the website also has an informative page on Data Spills and Web Bugs that is worth reading even if you don't use IDcide: www.idcide.com/html/prod/Hotmail.htm. (Win 9x & NT4 with IE v4 through v5.1 only. IDcide v 1.03 will not install with IE v5.5. (Thanks, Shane!) (Freeware)

Proxomitron  mir.spaceports.com/~ptron/ or proxomitron.tripod.com

Scott Lemmon's powerful, configurable browser filter can block ads, hide browser info, manage cookies, and much more. See the Proxomitron: Info, Tips & Tricks page. (Win 9x, 2K, & NT)

WebWasher  www.webwasher.com

WebWasher is a configurable browser filter similar to Proxomitron but more "new user-friendly." I found it very effective and easy to use and I highly recommend it. I've seen reports of heavy system resource usage on some systems. For tips & tricks, including how to use the hosts file inside WebWasher, visit Bruce's WebWasher Project: www.pacificnet.net/~bbruce/workshop.htm. New in V2.2 (Sept 12-00): Web Bug Filtering. (Win 9x & NT and Mac) (Free for personal use only)

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Browser, Cache & Cookie Utilities  

Cache Fix 2 for IE  www.winmag.com/fixes/ie/iecache2.htm

This tiny Winmag.com utility clears IE's cache and index.dat file. It requires Windows Scripting Host (WSH) which is usually installed by default on Win 98 and later. However some users (like me) who have no real use for WSH have uninstalled it to cut down on possible script worms and such. Win 95 users or others who want to reinstall WSH can download it via a link on this page. Read the "earlier hot fix" and "A Word of Warning" info on the page before using it. It doesn't do all Spider does but users who aren't having any luck with Spider have found this effective in cleaning up leftover cache junk. (Thanks to Killroy for his help with this link) (Win 9x, 2K with WSH installed) (Freeware)

Cache Sentry for IE  www.mindspring.com/~dpoch/enigmatic/cachesentry.html

David M. Pochron's utility fixes cache bugs found in IE versions 3, 4 & 5 and can also clean out old cookies. His site has extensive information on these bugs and is well worth a visit even if not interested in the utility itself. This utility may be especially useful in conjuction with Spider. In reply to an email inquiry, David said: "Yes, I'm aware of how annoying spyware can be [..] and have been thinking of modifying my web page's test to specify that none of my programs access the Internet while they are running." (Win 9x, SE, 2K & NT with IE 3.0 or higher) (Freeware)

ComClear  www.neuro-tech.net/software.html

Luke Reeve's free, superfast utility makes deleting Netscape (only) cookies, cache files, history files, and the drop-down url box a snap, even with multiple users. Since my drive isn't partitioned, I don't know if it will find and clear caches on other drives. Install from a temp directory directly under C: or an install error msg can occur. (Win 9x & NT4) (Freeware)

Cookie Cop Plus  www.zdnet.com/downloads/stories/info/0,,0015YW,.html

This free PC Mag utility is a local proxy server that lets you automatically accept or reject cookies by site, block unwanted Websites, or block just the graphics on a site. The Event Log lets you view every connection made while you are online, and every cookie passing to or from your computer. (Win 9x, 2K, & NT) (Freeware)

Cookie Muncher  www.bigwig.net/softwaredesign/index.html

Steve Seymour's Cookie Muncher eats a cookie as soon as it arrives. It also shows your IP address on the pop-up menu. This utility works with both IE and Netscape but selective cookie management currently only works with IE (Aug 23, 2000 version). Also works with Netcaptor, NeoPlanet, and supports AOL browsers. (Win 9x & NT) (Freeware)

Cookie Pal  www.kburra.com/cpal.html

With Kookaburra's Cookie Pal, cookies can be accepted or rejected from all or specified servers automatically, can be accepted based on expiration date, and wildcards can be used to accept or reject cookies from servers on the same domain. It keeps a summary list of the number of cookies accepted and rejected for the current session. Cookies already on the system can be viewed and deleted. It can be customized to work with other software, including e-mail programs such as Outlook and Eudora, making it a Web Bug solution too. (Win 9x & NT4 with IE 3x-5x, Netscape 3x-4x, Opera 3x (view & delete cookies only), AOL, or CompuServe) ($15)

Cookie Viewer (ptcookie)  www.winmag.com/columns/powertools/ptcookie.htm

This Winmag Power Tool by Karen's Kenworthy automatically scans your computer, looking for cookies created by IE and Netscape. It can then display the data stored in each one and can also delete IE cookies. (Works well on my Win 98 / IE 4.72 combo. Please let me know if you use it successfully with other versions of Windows or IE.) (Freeware)

CookieWall  www.analogx.com/contents/download/network/cookie.htm

CookieWall by AnalogX allows you to decide which cookies can stay and which can't. It can be configured to delete cookies as soon as they arrive, to notify you of any new ones, or lets you queue them up to check out at a later date. (Currently only for IE with Win 9x) (Freeware, with registration requested)

IE Clean and NS Clean  www.nsclean.com

Kevin McAleavey's utilities provide for comprehensive management of cookies, along with unwanted leftover data in newsgroups, email, and browsers (history, cache, url cleanup, bookmarks/favorites). It can also remove recent documents from the Windows start menu. Separate versions are available for use with Internet Explorer and Netscape. (Win 3x, 9x, NT) (Commercial software)

Internet Explorer Zone Editor  www.geocities.com/_SemperFi_/ieze/

Gunner's IE Zone Editor lets you edit the properties of IE's default Security Zones (icon, name, & description) and add new, custom Zones like the "Advertisers zone" shown in the GRC FAQ grc.com/cb-faq.htm#todo. Currently tested with IE 5x under Win 9x only. If you're using it successfully with IE 4x or another Windows version, please let me know. (Freeware)

Purge IE  www.aandrc.com/purgeie/

This shareware program comes highly recommended by many on GRC. It's completely configurable, and can be used to manage, maintain and update cache, history, and cookie files, including the index.dat files. The program can be executed even while IE is active. $14.95, new versions free after purchase, no maintainance fees. (Win 9x, 2k, NT4 with IE 4.x or 5x)

Spider  www.fsm.nl/ward/

Spider by Ward van Wanrooij is a fast utility that cleans out info hidden in IE .dat files, cookies, history files, and the IE cache. With IE 4x I occasionally have to run it twice to remove everything completely, perhaps because of IE cache bugs (see CacheSentry link under "Useful Tools"). (Current version is v1.16 for IE 4x & 5x with Win 9x & NT. I've seen posts with mixed results using it with IE v5.01 or later.) (Freeware)

Windows Clean Up!  http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/zeus/cleanup.html

This utility from "The Strangely Green Chicken Company" cleans IE & Netscape caches, history files/folders, OE and Netscape Mail and News caches, Windows Recent Documents folder, temporary directories, temp files from Scandisk, and various registry settings associated with all these files. Can also empty cookies file/folder, newsgroup subscriptions, and the Favorites/Bookmarks file. (Thanks for the link, Jayster) (Win 9x, 2k, NT4) (Freeware)

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Download Helpers  

Steve Gibson's Anatomy of File Download Spyware grc.com/downloaders.htm

"RealNetworks continues to bend the truth and fails to take responsibility for the behavior of their software." Read all about it in What do the NetZip-descended file downloaders whisper when they think you are not listening? Steve's investigation of RealNetworks RealDownload, Netscape/AOL Smart Download, and NetZip Download Demon shows how they allow "...a database of your entire, personal, file download history to be assembled and uniquely associated with your individual computer . . . for whatever purpose the program's publishers may have today, or tomorrow."

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Hosts File  

Bruce's Hosts File Pages  www.pacificnet.net/~bbruce/

Bruce's Windows Host File Utility has multiple options for managing the hosts file. His page also includes excellent information on using Tiny Web Server (similar to eDexter) with the hosts file, importing the hosts file to WebWasher, and controlling DNS lookup sequence in the hosts file. (Win 9x) (Freeware) (Thanks go to Gina for correcting my attribution of the Hosts File Utility and to Mike C., Milly, and others who shared suggestions.)

GDS Hosts Site  accs-net.com/hosts/

Gorilla's hosts site is THE place to go for info on using the hosts file to block unwanted ads and tracking. You'll also find eDexter here. This program acts as an HTTP server on your computer. Working with the hosts file, it eliminates the "hang" problem with Netscape and replaces the empty boxes that occur when you use the Hosts file to block ads. (Freeware)

Hostess - A Hosts File Manager  homestead.deja.com/user.raymarron

Ray Marron's great hosts utility is "designed to help you easily maintain your Hosts file by eliminating duplicates and placing hosts into logical groups that can be ordered for efficiency." It can also be downloaded from the "downloads" page of Stephen Martin's Hosts List Updates site (below). (Freeware)

Milly's hostsusp.bat  See the Hosts File: "Temporarily Suspend" Tricks page.

Milly's batch utility is a shorter version of Bruce's Hosts File Utility with one purpose: to suspend the Hosts File temporarily. (Win 9x) (Freeware)

Security Utilities By Mike Meyer  www.tznet.com/ghost/

Beyond security, Mike's utilities are great for finding new servers for the hosts file. ZA Log Lookup converts all IP addresses logged by Zone Alarm to host names when possible. IP Lookup includes simple Whois support. Simple to use! (Freeware)

Stephen Martin's Hosts List Updates  www.smartin-designs.com

Stephen is the keeper of the Big List and the latest updates can be found here. Besides indicating new additions, entries are sorted by groups for users who might want to block only certain advertisers. Privacy Power! is organized to parallel the groups in Stephen's list.

Updated: Sept 27-00

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