jtara - 9:07 pm on Mar 10, 2008 (gmt 0)

- Enable cookies only for sites that need them.

- Enable persistent cookies only for sites that you visit often and want to maintain sessions - for other sites you should accept cookies "only for this session". This applies particularly to search engines

- Some retail, travel, etc. sites will fiddle with prices based on your previous interest in products. Blocking cookies can work either for or against your favor in this case

- Use an ad blocker! There isn't anything I can say I've missed since installing a good one (that keeps getting better)

- Do not allow your email client to download linked content. Inline HTML (but ONLY inline) is generally safe with modern email clients. But downloaded images are used as beacons. I use an email client that has a little "download now" button for those emails where you really do want to see the linked content.

- If you use a "content advisor" extension, use it only in "download" mode, not "online". In this mode it periodically downloads a list of "bad sites" and the extension checks against the downloaded list. In online mode, you are telling the content advisory service about every site you browse.