In a message dated 8/10/2001 12:09:38 PM Eastern Daylight Time, jhuns@vt.edu writes:
my e-mail and browsers work fine without such things, so why do they do it.
Other folks find those features useful. I sometimes allow cookies to be stored on my machine to help me get quicker access to various web functions. I also have cached web pages on occasion to speed delivery of content. I don't cache my old e-mail, but know folks who do for their own reasons. The author advises me to "erase all [my] cache files, all [my] cookie files, and all of [my] e-mail correspondence. " My reply is simple: No thanks. I'll erase what I don't need on my machine, and will do it on my own terms. When my drive gets sufficiently filled with junk, I'll shift what I need and wipe it clean. No big deal, and to my way of thinking, no need for conspiracy theories ;>). I'm surely not a defender of contemporary bloated software that generates bloated files and bloated file structures, but am stuck in a position where I use what's easily available to get jobs done as efficiently, effectively, etc., as I can. And I don't mind folks complaining re: their perceptions of product quality. What bugs me about that article is that the argument is based on a factual error: the existence of supposedly hidden files that I can actually see. Hyperbole and crudeness while presenting a straw man just doesn't set well with me. You must be leading a blessed life to get away with a semiannual maintenance routine ;>). Cheers, Bob Briggs Westport, MA