Here you will find the most often asked questions about CookieCooker. Maybe your Questions is already answered here. If it isn't you can write us an email to: cookie@cookiecooker.net
Thats true. CookieCooker works on Windows 98 or newer.
To make use of CookieCooker you have to set your browser to use a Proxy. This setting is normally done by the configuration assistant that is run on the first start.
If you stopped the assistant before it could make those changes you can simply restart it. Just click on "Web interface" in your CookieCooker. since this will not work CC will offer you to reconfigure your browser.
During configuration please pay attention to these aspects:
Attention: AOL users can not use Internet Explorer with CookieCooker. The AOL Software manipulates IE to ignore its proxy configuration completely. We can't help you with that. The best solution we know is to use a different browser like Mozilla, Netscape or Opera.
Users of T-Online (DSL) may have the same problem. Try not using the T-Online browser and dial-in program.
If the web sites you visit are still not shown in the Cookie the automatic
browser configuration may not work on your system. In this case please
set your proxy configuration for HTTP manually to localhost:4002 .
Here is a description of how to do it.
Probably you changed your browsers configuration manually as described in JAP's help. If you use CookieCooker this is no longer necessary. Just set your browser to use CC by configuring your browser automatically with CC's configuration assistant.
If you want to use JAP now you can activate the JAP button on CookieCooker. CC will start JAP if necessary.
In the proxy settings of your browser set the entry for HTTP to localhost:4002 and for HTTPS,FTP and so on to localhost:4001. In CookieCooker you can activate "Use JAP" in Settings/General.
For the most common browsers you can find a description here for manually setting the proxy.
CookieCooker currently works on the following Windows OS's: Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows ME and Windows XP.
On Windows 95 one of the crucial libraries does not work. We try to solve the problem but don't hold your breath. A Linux Port is planed in a medium-term but other operating systems are not supported.
During the browser configuration the selected browsers are told to use CookieCooker as their proxy. In more detail: In Internet Explorer and on Netscape Netscape "http://localhost:4002/proxy.pac" will be placed at the "automatic proxy configuration". With Opera the setting for HTTP is set directly to "localhost" with the port number 4002. Where these options are set in your browser can be seen at the manual browser configuration page.
If you want to take back those changes you can select "Restore configuration" by clicking on the CC's systray icon with the right mouse button.
If you want to stop CC just try to disable its filtering function with the On/Off switch. If that doesn't suite you and you want to disable CC for a short time you don't always need to change the browses configuration. Only in Opera you need to change the configuration. Netscape and IE will continue to work without a proxy. But the down side of Netscape's and IE's flexibility is that you have to restart those browsers to make them use CC as a proxy again.
It seems that you have to use a special proxy to get access to the Internet. This is sometimes enforced in companies. The automatic browser configuration will have pointed out such a setting. Please click with the right Mouse button on the small CC icon in your System Tray (bottom right) and select "Settings". On the "General" card select "manual proxy configuration" and set the host and port accordingly. The host and port data you need will probably be found in your current browser configuration as "HTTP Proxy". Here you can find out how to get to this configuration tab in your browser.
If you are using Opera (prior to v6.0) this is normal behavior. To surf without CC you have to restore the bowser's proxy configuration. First of all close Opera. Then click with the right Mouse button on the small CC icon in your System Tray (bottom right) and select "Settings". On the "General" card select "Web browser configuration" and in the next dialog window click on "Restore configuration".
With most other browsers somebody or some program changed the proxy settings of your browser. Maybe you installed JAP and changed the settings to point to JAP. As long as CC is running it overlays those settings with its own. (When starting the browser it requests a proxy configuration file from CC.) To make your browser usable again you just have to remove the proxy settings. Please make a note of those settings before you remove them. For the most common browsers you can find a description here for manually changing the proxy settings.
Since Smartsurfer manages the Internet connections by itself you cant use CC's automatic configuration. Smartsurfer does however use normal dial in connections when they are available. Therefore you have to make the dial in providers that you use in smart surfer also available as normal windows dial in connections. This is how you an do it:
When your registration number is not accepted it is in most cases because a wrong windows user name was given. You can find out how to get the real name here.
If you typed in a wrong name you can simply re-register with the correct name. If you already paid and received a permanent key then please write us an email.
A second explanation is that you tried to use another temporary registration number. CC does only permit one temporary registration number per computer.
Usually this is a result of a too tight filter setting for active content. See Settings/Content-Filter.
Especially the option "delete actions during loading" on the one hand prevents a lot of annoying pop-up windows but in some cases can prevent a page from being shown correctly. Deactivate this option (any maybe also the other) and try to reload the page. In IE you have to press CTRL-F5 to really reload. Otherwise a cached version of the page might be shown again. If this does not work please try to deactivate CC temporarily before entering the site by pressing the "On/Off" button in CC.
We are working on further developments to avoid such errors and to add more features.
This is probably due to a wrong proxy configuration. Make sure that CC is only used as a proxy for HTTP not for HTTPS (or "secure HTTP"). Auto configuration should have taken care of this. If you did manual configuration please check the manual browser configuration page.
When you install CookieCooker it will NOT import your existing cookies. This is a matter of security since CC can't know if your existing cookies are used to store any private information. CC marks cookies if they could contain personal information to avoid exchanging those cookies with other users. more information
Continue surfing and repeat the cookie exchange after restarting CC. You will probably have some exchangeable cookies after some minutes of surfing.
Even in those cases you have trust the web site. Considering that the web site can track and store your every step. If you consent to this you can click on "show cookies" select that web site, and on the "Cookies/Using Data" card you can switch the site to "green". The effect is that from now on this cookie will always be used to communicate to the site and this cookie will of course not be exchanged.
Another way to achieve this is to give that cookie a name. This will mark the cookie as not exchangeable and will make CC ask you if you want to use it whenever you visit that web site.
If the cookie is already an identity (there's a face instead of a cookie icon in the list) then this cookie will not be exchanged. This may happen when you put data in a web form (like name and password on a login page). Those cookies will also be permanently saved. The time that you can set via "Settings/Cookies/Cookie storage" only applies to normal cookies.
Some cookies can't be selected to avoid exchanging cookies that might give somebody else access to your personal information on the associated web page. Just continue surfing (Esp. on commerce web sites) and try again later to exchange the newly collected cookies.
Currently there is only one Cookieserver and it is not particularly stable. Please excuse the occasional black outs of our network and try another day. If you don't get any connection during a period of several days please send us an email with details of your configuration (Operating System, Internet Service Provider ...)
If you are using Version 0.00.012 then this error might occur when you don't send any cookies to the server. Even though the server is operational.
If you consider a cookie useful because the web site actually does use it to tailor its service to your needs, you may declare that web site trustworthy (green).
Yes! When you are asked the next time simply check the "don't ask again" box and do a manual exchange once. You can also go to "Settings/CookieServer" and check the box at "Exchange cookies automatically" and uncheck the box at "Ask before exchange".
>From Version 1.0 there will be no more pop up windows if you don't wanted to be asked before exchange. You will see the exchange however in the status display inside the CookieCooker window. The number of randomly selected cookies can be set in "Settings/CookieServer".
CC uses several way to find out if personal information is connected to a cookie and is very conservative about it. If only one of the signs indicates a connection to personal information CC marks that cookie as not exchangeable. Signs are e.g.: Personal data has been entered in a form, username or password have been sent, the site is set to "green" (trustworthy).
Such cookies are marked as grey in the selection list for cookie exchange. If you try to mark such a cookie you will see the reason for its status in CC's status line.
Since there is a vast number of different web forms out there CC can't always recognize each field precisely. If you like to you can send us the URL of the form that doesn't work and we can try to improve our form filler.
Please activate "Settings/Form Filler/save data filled in forms". Otherwise CC will fill name and password fields on web sites but will not save them!
With some web sites you have to register before you can use them. Very often you have to choose a name and a password. If you make that registration with CC it will probably have suggested a name and a password and already saved them. If it didn't then CC will save that data on your next login.
The data entered in web forms (including the password) and the cookies that are possibly attached to that event are saved together as an Identity. This is the set of data that the web server may use to recognize you on your next visit.
CC manages those identities. You can have an arbitrary number of them. Every time you visit that web site you are asked which identity you want to use. According to that CC will try to fill the login web forms for you.
Whenever possible you should use different identities for different activities. Otherwise the web server can build a compete profile of your preferences and interests. If you want to create a new identity just check the "create new identity" box on your next visit to that web site. To start a new visit you will have to go to the first page of this domain that you contacted.
If you select CC's "Show Cookies" function. You can use an identity and go to the associated web site by simply double clicking on the identity.
If thats not the case you may have configured CC to convert all cookies to session cookies. See "Settings/Cookies/Cookie storage".