How To: Block Tracking Third-Party Cookies without Additional Software

I will illustrate a simple, yet effective way to stop tracking and third-party cookies without installing any additional software on your computer.  Third-party cookies are often used to track your visits and activities on webpages and can slow down your browser and hinder your privacy.  They are often the most common detected adware or spyware installed on most computers.   

Step 1

First, open up the browser you normally use to surf the internet.  In this case, I'll be using Internet Explorer.  Just open your browser and go to the top menu bar and select "Tools", then "Internet Options".

Step 2

Next, navigate to the "Privacy" tab and select "Advanced".  This will open up your cookie settings.  You will want to override the default automatic cookie handling setting and select "Block Third-party Cookies".  You want it to appear like the picture below.

Step 3

That's it for blocking third-party cookies.  Hit "OK" and close out the "Advanced Privacy Settings" menu.  Next, we'll want to add some exceptions.  Click on the "Sites" button, then on the "Privacy" tab.  See below.  Here you can add exceptions to sites and block particular sites in general if somehow they manage to slip through.  Here, I've made some entries for the most common tracking cookies encountered.

Learning to use these features of Internet Explorer or any other browser (settings are similiar for other browsers), can save you valuable computer resources and bandwidth.  I hope you find this information useful and it can help keep your computer clean of tracking cookies.