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Fizzlers takes this opportunity to talk with you about our stance of Spy Ware.  Spy Ware is a class of software that is designed to enter your computer by stealth under the auspices of helping you with your marketing choices but is in fact, a serious threat to you, your computer, and your privacy.

Spy Ware uses clever behind the scene programming to embed itself on your computer's hard drive and memory in a methodology of infection that makes it virtually impossible for the average computer user to extinguish. Spy Ware, gathers your keystrokes, passwords, personal and private information and sends it via your own Internet connection, to people and companies who want to know about you.

In most cases, the information stored and sent is harmless but whatever it does, it does it WITHOUT your permission. We think it's a terrible invasion of privacy and urge you to install reputable Spy Ware detection software on your computer.  Why do we say reputable? Because some so-called Spy Ware companies actually create these nasty little worms so that you'll HAVE TO buy their product to get rid of it.  It's sort of like the fox guarding the hen house. We recommend you use the product endorsed or supplied by your ISP. It is in your ISP's best business interest to protect you, their customer, and as such, you have the full weight of your ISP to insure that you don't get taken.

So why are we addressing Spy Ware???? and what about Cookies???

Because many people think that "cookies" are a low-level form of Spy Ware though not nearly as insidious.  A cookie is a tiny text file stored in your Windows cookies folder. This cookie helps identify you when you revisit a website.  Let's say you are a regular visitor to let's say... Amazon. When you enter the site, it may greet you personally with your name, your buying preferences, and your recent history.  That information is stored on your own PC in the form of a cookie and every time you go to Amazon, the cookie helps customize their greeting to you.  I know personally that Amazon NEVER uses cookies to invade your privacy.  They're a wonderful and credible company; but unfortunately, other companies that sell on the net are not so honorable.

Like Amazon, eBay, and other companies, we will need you to have your PC set to receive a fizzler cookie.  With it,  the convenience of storing a cookie on your computer will make it easy to get to your Fizzlers without having to enter your starting Zip Code and Search Range every time you enter fizzlers.  We assure you that our cookie is harmless.  Should you choose to remove the cookie, you will have to enter your zip and range every time you visit fizzlers.  And not-to-worry, once you get inside fizzlers, you can always change the zip/range at anytime you wish.

Enjoy fizzlers.com & business.fizzlers.com. and surf with confidence in the knowledge that not a single shred of your private information is exchanged across the Internet. To learn how to enable cookies, click here.

What Are The Chances of Catching a Virus From a Cookie?

A normal text based cookie cannot be of any danger to your computer or spread any viruses. Whether or not other cookies can be dangerous or spread viruses has to do with whether or not a file is "executable," meaning if it's a program rather than data. UNIX files, for instance, have some combination of the properties "readable," "writable" and "executable." The executable property is necessary to enable a program in a file to do something. If a cookie is not stored in an executable format for that platform, it cannot do something hostile.

Most cookies are not executable, and I have not come across one and fizzlers certainly will never create one. In general Cookies are stored as text files and cannot be of danger or pass on viruses. Even if a cookie is executable it cannot automatically spread on a virus unless you execute it. There is no way for a user to activate a cookie.

The maximum contents of a cookie is 4Kb, and the line to delete the contents of a hard-disk is only 18 bytes long, so obviously the virus could do some damage even though it could not be a complete Trojan horse. Please note this is only a theory and I have never seen a cookie that was able to spread a virus, this would be virtually impossible, and would take a great deal of work.

Basically cookies cannot harm your computer. The general controversy is not what cookies can do to your computer, but what information they can store, and what they can pass on to servers, there is currently a new proposal to limit the features of the cookie protocol, which would give people a greater control over what cookies they can accept and from where.  But as you'll notice, with the exception of the classified listings, the ONLY information we ask you for is your zip code and search radius.  Here at fizzlers we're privacy nuts and we're all about protecting your rights right along with ours.

Respecting your privacy always,
The Design Team@fizzlers.com

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