OT: What Info Does Your Computer Whore Out?

Atrocities · #1 December 19th, 2007, 02:22 AM

I was wondering what information apart from my ISP info and IP address is my whore of a computer broadcasting to each and every web site I might visit? Does it give them my PC name, network name, or other what we all would consider to be private info?

And what can I do to stop my whore of a machine from giving out any information other than IP and ISP info?

Arkcon · #2 December 19th, 2007, 10:15 AM

Just recently I was having some problems with my cookie management add-on programs and decided to just use what comes with Firefox. And I learned an interesting tidbit -- when you google for Best Buy or Amazon dot com, Best Buy and Amazon send a cookie through the google page. Likewise there's a very common cookie, googleadservices, that many non-affiliated websites use. So at least, your computer broadcasts where you've even looked for shopping.

Xrati · #3 December 19th, 2007, 12:06 PM

If you want to find out who's looking, just clean out your cookies, set the privacy setting on options to HIGH and then see who's site will let you in. That's what I do and you'd be surprised at how many site want you to turn on cookies!!!
AT set everything on high and just decide what web places you want getting your information. If you can't get to a website then you will have to choose to let them in or keep them out.

aegisx · #4 December 19th, 2007, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Atrocities said:
I was wondering what information apart from my ISP info and IP address is my whore of a computer broadcasting to each and every web site I might visit? Does it give them my PC name, network name, or other what we all would consider to be private info?

And what can I do to stop my whore of a machine from giving out any information other than IP and ISP info?

For a start:

http://analyze.privacy.net

However, a browser can find out a lot more. Some versions of IE allow sites to check for the existence of files, for example.

Baron Grazic · #5 December 20th, 2007, 02:29 AM

Quote:

Atrocities said:
I was wondering what information apart from my ISP info and IP address is my whore of a computer broadcasting to each and every web site I might visit?

I believe that web sites can even learn what "Time Zone" from the "Date/Time" options and possibly "Area Code" from your "Modems dialing rules" options your PC is setup for.

Not counting Windows, IE, Media Player, etc Versions.

Edit - Post 800 and it only took me 6+ years.

Atrocities · #6 December 20th, 2007, 09:02 PM

Thanks guys for all the info and that link.

aegisx · #7 December 20th, 2007, 10:13 PM

One of the best ways to browse, for security and privacy, is to us the VMware Player.

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/

It is free. There are pre-made images (several OS choices) up that are pretty much just an OS and a browser. You can set the image so that any changes made to the virtual hard drive (which would mean cookies, temporary files, virii etc) will not persist. So next time you start it up, it is fresh.