If something like eBay doesn't work without enabling Cookies (as will
happen with many sites, especially sites where purchasing is involved,
or where you want to personalize it or set up an account) then I put a
check mark in the appropriate box and allow the cookie to be set. You
will see no more prompts for that site. Ditto, for sites where you
*know* you never want cookies set, check the box and then refuse it. A
list is kept in the settings that lists domains and whether to Always
Allow or Always Block. Over a relatively short period of time, your
machine will have "learned" when to set cookies and when not to--though,
of course, any new site will prompt if it wants to set a cookie. Just
remember--When in doubt, do not check the "Remember" box before allowing
or blocking cookies. And look at the name of the domain that is trying
to set the cookie. Quite often, it's not from the main page, but rather
from an advertising inset.

Other sites require other permissions, such as for Active-X. These
permissions are based upon Zones, with most sites outside your local
machine or LAN set to the Internet Zone where permissions are relatively
strict. Super-restrictive permissions (block *everything*) are applied
to the Restricted Zone, and some Spyware Blockers use that method in
addition to others. A HOSTS file absolutely blocks a site by not even
allowing access, period.

For a long time, I was in the habit of declaring the more complicated
sites that use a lot of Active-X, for instance, as Trusted Sites.
Trusted Zone settings are more lax. However, it has occurred lately that
even well maintained and trustworthy sites have been shown as capable of
being invaded by hackers, which then can do pretty much anything they
want based upon accessing your machine from a Trusted Zone.

--
Gary S. Terhune
MS MVP Shell/User

"Moonraker" wrote in message
...
Hi Gary,

The cookie blocking - Now I am on the settings you suggested obviously
we
keep getting prompts (which can be a bit of a pain) and we could not
log on
to ebay at all, haven't tried ebuyer yet where we buy computer stuff.
Do you
adjust the settings as you need to or is there a "cunning plan"

Again thanks for your help Steve.