Cookies - can they be avoided?

[PeteC]

Not I. One idea is right click on the pop up box instead of opening it and see if one of the options there is to delete it?

[Big Boy]

No, I've tried everything. The only way to move it is to click and open. The worst/original offender is SMM Sport, which is where it all seemed to start, but the cookie is being used by more and more news agencies.

[PeteC]

Look in your Browser Preferences to see if you have the below or similar. Turn it on if so.

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[Big Boy]

It took me a while to find it, but they are blocked

[PeteC]

SMM Sport is a Thai site and I wonder if it loaded you with some malware? Maybe run a malware scan.

I opened SMM Sport on Opera browser and it didn't load anything, pop up anything, or ask me to accept cookies.

[Big Boy]

Malware/Virus scans run - machine is squeaky clean. As soon as I remove cookies, it goes away. Hit a dodgy news site, and it's back again.

The message I get on most news sites is, 'This site uses cookies, press accept to continue." If I accept the cookie, invariably it starts again.

[hhinner]

Have you tried using a private browser window for those sites you think are suspect? Private browsing won't save cookies and history when you exit the window. You will have to accept cookies when necessary, but they'll only be there for that session.

[Big Boy]

No, I hadn't, but I've just gone incognito, so let's see if that helps - thank you.

[laser]

Erm... too complicated? Here is a simpler guide.
Click the link below
https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/ ... g-cookies/
Opera shall open a new page, where you find and click the "Add to Opera" (green) button.
Then repeat the same steps with the link
https://addons.opera.com/en/extensions/details/ublock/

Now you can visit https://www.smmsport.com
Clicking the uBlock icon (top right of Opera) gives you options to get rid of large ads, small ads, or even to stop Javascript for that site. Play with the options, always refresh the page to see the effects until happy with ads blocking.
As for cookies, click the new Autoclean icon and explore the features. A prudent approach is enabling auto cleaning & only adding benign/important sites to the whitelist. Deleting 'localstorage' content might help if deleting cookies only did not resolve the issue.

[Big Boy]

Have you tried using a private browser window for those sites you think are suspect? Private browsing won't save cookies and history when you exit the window. You will have to accept cookies when necessary, but they'll only be there for that session.

Thank you hhinner, going Incognito seems to have sorted it.

laser, thanks again, I have your simplified version in reserve should going Incognito fail.

[hhinner]

Hope it lasts.

[pharvey]

Thank you hhinner, going Incognito seems to have sorted it.

I'd forgotten about "Incognito" in Google/Chrome - I'm assuming you're talking the same (Ctrl+Shift+n)?

Came back to me after reading this report: - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52887340

An excerpt from above: -

"Incognito mode within Google's Chrome browser gives users the choice to search the internet without their activity being saved to the browser or device. But the websites visited can use tools such as Google Analytics to track usage.

The complaint says that Google "cannot continue to engage in the covert and unauthorized data collection from virtually every American with a computer or phone"."

[Big Boy]

I don't switch to it that way, but would assume we're talking the same thing.