Security, Cookies, and Firewalls

In the best of all possible worlds we would not have anything on our computers except our operating system and application programs. The simpler the better is the word in software.

Unfortunately, in this day of malicious hacking, to protect our computers we must install firewalls and anti-viral programs. To protect our sanity, we install pop-up ad blockers. We have different settings available for cookies, ranging from accept everything to accept nothing. If it is good to block some cookies, it is even better to block them all -- right?

Let's look at how some of these settings may impact our comfortable browsing of the internet.

Cookies

Internet Explorer can be set for various security settings from low (accept all cookies) to high (accept no cookies). In addition, some people choose to delete their cookies constantly. How does all this affect you?

Programs use cookies as a scratchpad to store data. They can be used to remember that you are logged into a particular site. Whenever you visit that site, then, you do not have to look up whatever magic username and password you picked and re-log in. Erase all the cookies on your system and you must re-log in to many sites. Further, if you have your browser set to accept no cookies at all, some code -- such as our message board -- constantly asks you to re-log in. For example, to see the private section you must log in. Then, if you want to post a message to the private section, you must be logged in. If you have not allowed any cookies at all, it will ask you again to log in. It gets very irritating, to say the least. Some cute little features, also, rely on cookies -- such as the arrow that tells you whether something is new since the last time you were on the message board.

Some cookies are perfectly passive and just help make your browsing easier. So, the next time you decide "all cookies are bad" think about it and whether you truly want to eliminate the features that cookies provide.

One trick would be to set your browser so that it does not allow third party cookies. Third party cookies are cookies that come from outside of the site that you or visiting --- generally from advertising that is placed on many sites. To try this and see whether you like it, if you use Internet Explorer 6, go to the Tools menu, select Internet Options and click the Privacy tab. Click the advanced button and then in the box displayed, check the box next to "override automatic cookie handling" and choose"block" under the "third-party cookies" heading. Click the OK button to confirm that setting. In Mozilla/Netscape it is similar but they don't use the term third party cookie, but are a little clearer by defining it "for the original site only".

Pop-up Ad Blockers

Probably most people have at least one blocker on their computer now -- in fact, it is difficult to keep the number of pop-up blockers to just one. It seems like every program you buy or toolbar you download has a pop-up ad blocker on it. You might find it easier to control to determine the pop-up blocker you like the best and try hard to limit yourself to just one blocker.

What is the problem with blockers? Unfortunately there are still web programmers who program legitimate things in pop-up blocks. Have you ever had the experience of a program saying "if you want to download this, click here", you click and nothing happens? Another common use I've seen is in giving enlargements of pictures, or ordering some things over the internet.

It is very frustrating -- you keep clicking there and nothing happens until it finally dawns on you that just maybe what you really want to see is being blocked. Many programs use control-click to overcome the blocker for a particular instance. Some let you tell them that you will accept pop-ups on particular sites.

Firewalls

If you have ever had to deal with tech support for a program, quite often the first thing they want you to do is turn off your firewall. You might protest that it has absolutely nothing to do with the problem, but do not be so sure. There is a reason that they want to take that variable out of the loop immediately. Firewalls have databases to them, and these databases can become corrupt causing unusual and unwanted effects (such as only being able to download one type of file). You can also accidentally block some sub-program that is absolutely needed for the proper functioning of the main program.

It seems like all applications nowadays want to communicate to the internet. Often they don't need to, and you can just block that communication in your firewall. However, sometimes they do need to in order to perform their functions well. For example, the program that is used to generate pages like this on our website has a function where the new pages can be uploaded to the site. When you block the program from doing it's start up communication (which it really doesn't need to do), you unfortunately block the convenient function of uploading the pages. At that point it is a trade-off.

Recently I had the experience that I could no longer post messages on our message board. Worse than that -- as I was just sure that there was some disastrous thing happening and I wanted to get into the administrative function -- I could not get into administration. That put me into a full blown panic mode. It turns out something had gone wrong with my firewall ( I have yet to know what, as I certainly was not blocking the Leewood site). I lowered the firewall and I could post message and behave normally. I ended up deleting that firewall and starting all over again.

Another personal experience with firewalls -- it turns out that most internet providers assign you what is known as an IP number when you log on. Sites can block IP numbers for various reasons -- such as a hacker with that IP number continually harassing the site. We can block IP numbers on our message board in fact. There are some servers that use a "it's not legitimate" block -- i.e. if they know that a IP number has not been given to any firm to use, they block that just for good measure. Unfortunately, when that IP number gets assigned to someone eventually (say your ISP wants more numbers and gets a new block) the unfortunate person who gets the new IP number can be blocked. As most people don't have fixed IPs, but get assigned an IP when they sign on, it is hard to understand sites blocking by IP. They can easily end up blocking a large number of innocents to keep out one hacker. Certainly my ISP was not responsive in helping me when I had this problem. Unfortunately one site that I was blocked from was a site for which I am a webmaster! I had to change servers for that site, as, although the IP number was supposed to change every time I logged on, I seemed to be stuck in one range of IP numbers. The owner of the server from which I was blocked worked with me and we discovered it was in fact his firewall, but he definitely didn't want to lift his firewall (or take the time to discover why it is blocking that number) just to help out one customer.

In conclusion, if you experience mysterious things, look to your security programs and see whether they are what are preventing you from posting messages, seeing an enlargement of a picture, or remaining logged in. Try changing the settings temporarily (or turn off your firewall) and see how it affects your gremlins. Once you know the cause of a computer's erratic behavior, it can almost always be solved.

by Judith B. Currier