There are several web sites that are accessed from within certain online newspapers that I would like to block. Can someone tell me how to block any access to these specific web sites from within the online newspaper pages? I have Windows XP Professional and the current version of Norton Antivvirus.
bond220,
Adding the website you want to block to the HOSTS file might work.
Here's some info on the subject: http://helpdeskgeek.com/how-to/block-websites-using-hosts-file/
and here: http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/01/easy-but-powerful-way-to-block-ads.html
It sounds more complicated than it really is. You just add the website you want to block to the bottom of the HOSTS file.
Hi all,
I have been looking for a way to block one specific cookie that keeps showing up when I run a quick scan with NIS 2010 but I didn't get to find anything that solves this.
My computer runs on Windows 7 and I use Mozilla Firefox 3.5.9. This browser has a feature where you can create a list of those cookies you want to allow and of those you want to block. I have included this particular cookie in the blocked list, but it does not work. The cookie keeps being caught by NIS and I understand the risk is low, but this has become a great annoyance for me.
This is what NIS tells me, everyday, after I run a manual scan:
>
Tracking cookie: Cookie: myname@atdmt.com/
Removed
Orphan cookie cleanup
Removed
In Firefox I have the "Accept cookies from sites" box unchecked and I also have the name of this cookie listed as "atdmt.com" under Exceptions as blocked. All this not withstanding, the cookie still keeps showing up.
Puzzling and annoying, to say the least. I will be very grateful if anyone shows me how to block this cookie.
Thanks
Lin Yu
HI Lin Yu
The following link is supposed to opt out of the atdmt cookie. It is provided by Atlas Solutions.
http://www.atdmt.com/CookieActions.aspx
This seems to have done the trick. Thanks for the lead.
mdturner,
Thank you for your prompt reply. Someone already seems to have benefited from your information. In my own case, I had just run a manual quick scan and the "atdmt.com" tracking cookie had been resolved. It may have been for this reason that when I tried to get to the link you provided I got this message:
[Quote]
STATUS OF COOKIE
No Atlas Cookie
You do not have an Atlas cookie on your computer.
If you attempted to opt-out it may have failed due to your browser settings.
-- Your browser may not support cookies.
-- Your browser may have disabled websites from storing cookies on your computer.
===opt-out of the Atlas cookie===
[Unquote]
The last line in the above message is a clickable option which I chose to click, but I'm not sure whether this option would be for the case where the virus had been encountered OR if it would trigger some kind of action that would prevent the cookie from installing in the future. I just do not know. Whatever happened (if anything happened) it was not visible to my eyes.
What I plan to do is I will wait until tomorrow or so and run again the link you provided to see what happens.
Meanwhile, if you have any further thoughts about this, please let me know. Otherwise, I will report back the results of my next attempt, as I mentioned above.
Cheers.
Lin Yu
Hi LinYu2
It seems that you have already blocked cookies from your browser and that should be good enough to keep the atdmt cookie off your system.
Hello LinYu2
FWIW
blocking third party cookies does not interfere with the opt-out preference you set for Yahoo, Microsoft and Google. Instead of using a yieldmanager.com cookie to store your preference, Yahoo stores it in a Yahoo.com cookie. Likewise, Microsoft uses a live.com cookie when it's prevented from creating an atdmt.com cookie.
http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Blocking%20cookies
Firefox 3.6.3 security update now available
As part of Mozilla’s ongoing stability and security update process, Firefox 3.6.3 is now available as a free download for Windows, Mac, and Linux from http://www.firefox.com.
We strongly recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest release. If you already have Firefox 3.6 you will receive an automated update notification within 24 to 48 hours. This update can also be applied manually by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu.
For a list of changes and more information, please review the Firefox 3.6.3 Release Notes.
Note: All Firefox 3 and 3.5 users are strongly encouraged to upgrade to Firefox 3.6 by downloading it from http://firefox.com/ or by selecting “Check for Updates…” from the Help menu and clicking on “Get the New Version”, then checking for updates again once Firefox 3.6 is installed.
mdturner wrote:Hi LinYu2
It seems that you have already blocked cookies from your browser and that should be good enough to keep the atdmt cookie off your system.
mdturner,
Thanks for your continued assistance. I understand what you say and it makes a lot of sense to me. However, I have these settings in place for a few years already, and the fact is, all other cookies seem to be blocked, but not this particular one. Let me explain:
I only check the "Accept cookies from sites" box in Mozilla Firefox when so requested by the site that I'm trying to access. Other than that, I keep it permanently unchecked. More frequently than not, I forget to go back and uncheck this box. When I later notice that it is checked, if I open the "Show cookies" box I can see all those cookies that have been installed while the box was checked. This makes sense, because this is the way it is supposed to be.
But as long as I keep the box unchecked, no cookies are installed at all, except for this particular one -- the little rascal atdmt.com...
I must also add this:
Contrary to other tracking cookies, which show up in the above mentioned Firefox cookie box, and that are eventually caught by NIS, this atdmt.com cookie rarely, if ever, shows up in that box. It just gets caught by NIS when doing a manual scan, period.
What does this mean? I don't know. But I suspect that this behavior might have something to do with the fact that this cookie keeps installing itself, even when I have the "Accept cookies from sites" box unchecked.
I think I may have read somewhere that this atdmt.com cookie has something to do with Microsoft, and this last poster (bjm_) seems to imply the same idea. Not that it makes much difference from wherever it may come, but I find it interesting that it may be seeded by Microsoft, anyway.
So, these are the facts, as best I can lay them out for you. I hope you can provide some more specific guidance that enables me to finally get rid of this pest.... It is the only one that keeps showing up after a scan and this triggers one last question: Why are all other tracking cookies being blocked but this one?
Thank you very much for kind cooperation.
Lin Yu
LinYu2 wrote:Contrary to other tracking cookies, which show up in the above mentioned Firefox cookie box, and that are eventually caught by NIS, this atdmt.com cookie rarely, if ever, shows up in that box. It just gets caught by NIS when doing a manual scan, period.
What does this mean?
Hi LinYu2,
myname@atdmt.com looks like a cookie stored in Internet Explorer, rather than Firefox. Even if you do not browse with IE, other Microsoft programs such as Windows Media Player, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger can all pick up cookies based on the cookie options you have set in IE's Privacy settings. You may want to delete your IE cookies as explained here and see this post for configuring IE's Privacy settings to block tracking cookies.
SendOfJive wrote:
myname@atdmt.com looks like a cookie stored in Internet Explorer, rather than Firefox. Even if you do not browse with IE, other Microsoft programs such as Windows Media Player, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger can all pick up cookies based on the cookie options you have set in IE's Privacy settings. You may want to delete your IE cookies as explained here and see this post for configuring IE's Privacy settings to block tracking cookies.
SendOfJive:
I followed, step by step, all your recommendations. It DOES seem to work. I'm crossing my fingers!... I will report back later today or tomorrow.
Thank you very, very much.
Lin Yu
There are several web sites that are accessed from within certain online newspapers that I would like to block. Can someone tell me how to block any access to these specific web sites from within the online newspaper pages? I have Windows XP Professional and the current version of Norton Antivvirus.
Hi LinYu2
happy to read issue resolved...
since you see find atdmt.com in Firefox...may I ask > what is your FF "Keep until" setting & have you considered adding atdmt.com to FF "Exceptions" - "Block"
IE cookie may populate to FF ?...I may have never experienced IE to FF ( ? ) because
My primary browser is FF 3.6.3 and I have always set IE cookie settings as SendOfJive advised... Accept First - Block Third
we all learn as one learns
happy atdmt issue resolved! 
$.02
SendOfJive wrote:
myname@atdmt.com looks like a cookie stored in Internet Explorer, rather than Firefox. Even if you do not browse with IE, other Microsoft programs such as Windows Media Player, Windows Live Mail and Windows Live Messenger can all pick up cookies based on the cookie options you have set in IE's Privacy settings. You may want to delete your IE cookies as explained here and see this post for configuring IE's Privacy settings to block tracking cookies.
SendOfJive:
I followed, step by step, all your recommendations. It DOES seem to work. I'm crossing my fingers!... I will report back later today or tomorrow.
Thank you very, very much.
Lin Yu
SendOfJive,
Bad news... I regret to have to say it, but my hopes were unfounded. It DOES NOT work! Today, I already ran two scans, at two different times, and the son of a gun still keeps bugging me...
As I said, I did all the steps as per your suggestions and my first scans did not yield anything, which means that no bugs were there. Later on, I did another run and the cookie showed up. Since NIS automatically cleans these tracking cookies, it did not show when I did another scan right afterwards.
A few minutes ago I gave it another try and there it was again... 
Any further thoughts, please?
Thanks.
Lin Yu
You could try adding atdmt.com to the per site list as a blocked entry in IE.
Thanks for your immediate reply...
Just two things: First, please be aware that I very seldom use IE. My browser is Firefox.; an second, how do I accomplish this last task you suggest?
Cheers.
In IE, go to Tools > Internet Options > Privacy tab >Sites button. You can also block this in Firefox via Tools > Options > Privacy tab > Exceptions button. I would set this in both browsers because, as mentioned earlier, the IE setting will affect other programs on your PC that connect online.
OK. But isn't this exactly what I did by following your first recommendations? And as I have said, it seemed to work but, in fact, it didn't.
Did you already specifically block this site in the exceptions list?