Technology

Cookies. Oh yes! Those golden buttery ones with the big ol’ chunks of dark chocolate—those are my favorite. I like them thin with crispy edges and a little gooey still in the middle.

Computer cookies are another variety altogether. While not the topic of conversation they once were, every so often I get asked about cookies. Or, someone will bring them up to me: “It’s been a while since I cleaned my cookies.”

In computer terms, a cookie is a small file that a website leaves in your web browser. (Your web browser is the program you use to “browse” the “web.” Aptly named, no?) Websites will leave these tiny files to identify your computer and your browsing habits.

Have you ever been looking at a product on Amazon (let us say a new calculator), and then you log into Facebook and suddenly there is an ad for that same calculator you were just looking at? Amazon placed a cookie on your computer identifying you as a possible calculator purchaser. Then, when you log into Facebook, they will serve you an ad from Amazon with that same product, based on the cookie that was stored earlier.

In general, cookies are beneficial. Automatic logins to web sites can be stored by cookies. The contents of your shopping card can be saved via cookies. A website showing you the current temperature based on your location? Could be a cookie generating that content based on your location.

Some people who are especially sensitive to privacy might have an issue with cookies. Generally, businesses are not going to single you out personally based on cookies. Amazon “knows” they have a customer named Bill Batty in Spruce Head Maine. Their servers know this “Bill Batty” guy uses a Mac laptop and likes to look at drums. I do not believe Amazon employees are looking at their web server logs, adding up all the various bits, and will be wondering “Who is this guy?” It is far more impersonal than that. Based on all the time cookies save me, I do not worry about them.

Some people might worry that all these cookies are slowing their computer down, so they clean them out periodically. Cookies are very small files, and take almost no space. Your hard drive is not going to fill up because of cookies. The presence of cookies on your computer is not going to make it slow down. If you want to block cookies or erase them for privacy reasons, go ahead. Otherwise, don’t worry about them. They do more good than harm.

Many people are concerned about the amount of junk mail they receive in their email box. Like your post office mailbox, you cannot control who sends you an email; you can only throw it away after you receive it.

Some emails will offer you an “unsubscribe” function. If the junk email you are receiving is from a “legitimate” business, feel free to unsubscribe. The WalMarts and LL Beans and Dunkin’ Dounuts of the business world will honor your request and remove you from their marketing list.

Other emailers—those who send nasty and persistent emails—do not function in the same way. DO NOT “unsubscribe” from those emails. Clicking the unsubscribe link in the “Camp Lejeune bad water” emails (or those like it) will not get you off the spammer’s list, and will probably increase the amount of junk you receive. Why? When you “unsubscribe” from those illegitimate business emails, you tell the spammer 1) The email address they used to reach you is still valid, and 2) Someone at that address is actively reading the email. Once they know they have a good address with a live person on the other end, they will sell that address to other spam emailers, and the bulk junk mail you receive will increase!To sum up: There is very little you can do to reduce junk email. A legitimate business will honor their unsubscribe link. Don’t bother “unsubscribing” from the really gross stuff—you’ll probably make matters worse.

A very “popular” scam on the Internet is known colloquially as the “1-800” scam. It works something like this…

You’re browsing the Internet, and everything is going fine, when all of a sudden a quacking siren and a voice tell you “Your computer has been hacked! Don’t turn it off or you will lose all of your important data!” Or, you may see something that looks like a Microsoft “blue screen” error, with the text telling you to call a 1-800 number to let a “Microsoft technician” fix the issue. Don’t fall for it–it’s a scam!

Should you call those 800 numbers, you’ll be connected–not to Microsoft–but to a con man! They will sound convincing. They will be urgent that you MUST let them log into your computer remotely, and then they’ll “fix it” for you. They will show you all kinds of “errors” or “IP addresses from all over the world of people who are spying on you.” These tactics are very misleading. They will try to get you to give them a credit card number, and offer you a yearly maintenance plan–usually costing several hundred dollars.

Should you get one of these blue screens or other screens requesting you call an 800 number, don’t do it! At that point, you haven’t opened yourself up to trouble. Restart your web browser, or restart your computer. ONLY AFTER you’ve called the number and let the scammer take remote control of your computer are you in danger. Once they’ve logged in, they have access to everything on your computer. At that point, you are best served contacting your computer pro and asking them to do a clean up. If you go deeper, and give the scammer your credit card or bank account info, then you need to take bigger steps, and cancel the card and/or alert the bank. It’s better to not get in too deep to begin with. Don’t fall for the scam. Don’t call. Just reboot and start again.

Last August 8th I started a new position as a town clerk for St. George. As part of those duties I contribute to the town’s newsletter. I offer the “Town Tech Tip” every month. The way our town website works, however, means the articles are only posted for a month. Once the new newsletter is posted the old ones go into the archives where no one can get at it. I’m going to archive them here in case they may be useful to someone.