BOO FOR DROPAHOLICS

(somone over at Dropaholics must have read this manual!!! BOO!!)

Okay, so as some of you already know, my blog got hacked big time. By something called http://www.dropaholics.com/ What a big pain in my rear-end!! I tried to find out about this site, and this is what I found: http://www.w3who.com/dropaholics.com

The person(s) behind Dropaholics.com has Adsense Ads. I had Adsense Ads listed on my blog. Guess where I found the dropaholics coding? Yep, that's right. In an Adsense Ad. Guess what I don't have on my blog right now? Yep, you guessed it again....ADSENSE ADS!!! And, I might never put them back on and just cancel my account with them. I don't want this to happen again.

Also, in my frantic searching to try and fix my beloved blog, I also came across another very interesting fact: Did you know that there are literally HUNDREDS of sites, every day, that want to attach cookies? Even my favorite "hip" site does! Want to know how I found this out?

Well, in doing research, one of the recommendations was to check my internet settings. I have Windows Vista, so I:

1. Went into my computer's Control Panel (I clicked the start button and it brought up the list of choices),

2. Clicked Network and Internet Options

3. Clicked Internet Options

4. You will now be in the Internet Options page. Click "Privacy" on the top tab and then in the middle of that page there will be a second row of tabs. Click "Advanced."

5. You will click to override automatic cookie handling and then click "Accept" for First-party cookies and "Prompt" for Third-party cookies. Click OK to get out of that screen and OK to get out of the next screen. You will now have to restart your computer for those changes to take place. What this does is gives you more control on who can and cannot attach a cookie.

What are First-Party and Third-Party cookies, you ask? Well, simply put, if you visit www.widgets.com and the domain of the cookie placed on your computer is www.widgets.com, then this is a first-party cookie. If, however, you visit www.widgets.com and the cookie placed on your computer says www.stats-for-free.com, then this is a third-party cookie.

Why do far fewer people block first-party cookies? The reason is that it is very difficult to surf the internet without accepting these cookies. First party cookies are necessary in order for you to be recognised as an individual. Any site that you login to as an individual requires a way of identifying you as "you". Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, online banking, ebay, Amazon, etc. Additionally, anti-spyware software and privacy settings do not target first-party cookies

What actually happens when cookies are blocked / rejected?

1st party cookies: it is very hard to login anywhere
3rd party cookies: no adverse effects to surfing

Q: How does this affect tracking systems, when people block / delete cookies?
A: All visits will still be recorded, but a person who has deleted the cookies will not be recognized as the same (returning) visitor.

When cookies are in place, and not blocked or deleted, total visitor counts will remain comparatively low. If a person constantly deletes cookies, they will be counted as a new "unique" visitor with every subsequent visit.

So, there is a benefit for accepting a third-party cookie, as in the case of my fav "hip" blog site. But, for other third-party prompts, you can rest assured that clicking to decline them is not going to hurt anything.

So, to get back to the point of this post, if you advertise with AdSense Ads or allow those Ads to be placed on your blog, in my humble opinion, you are setting yourself up to get hacked like I did.

Anyway, so far, so good! I am going to try and get a little color back on my blog, but for now, it might be kinda bare until I get the nerve to "jazz" it up again!!!! :)

Thanks, everyone, for your help! I am sending you all a great big hug...Especially you, Sonya Ann!!!! (((((HUG)))))

**A.Marie**