Add N Edit Cookies is a Firefox extension that integrates cookie manipulation in the web browser. A link to the cookie editor is added at the end of the tools menu. It will load in a separate window that acts independently meaning that it is possible to use Firefox with the Cookie Editor window being open.

The main window provides access to a filter that can be used to locate specific cookies. By default all cookies are shown in the list sorted by their site and cookie name. A click on a cookie will display extensive information including the cookie’s content, the path, host and expiration date.

A double-click on a cookie will load the editor with possibilities to edit the parameters of that cookie. It is possible to change the name, content, domain, path, connection and expiration date.

Another option would be to use the Cookie Editor to delete cookies. That’s simply a matter of selecting the cookies that should be deleted and pressing the Delete button.

The last option is the Add button which makes it possible to add a new cookie to the browser.

Related posts

• Use Firefox Without A Computer Mouse (7)
• Url Revealer (2)
• Load Multiple URLs In Firefox (3)
• Flickr To Twitter Poster (2)
• Firefox: Edit Forms On Websites In External Editors (5)

The blacklist would contain websites that should not be allowed to place cookies on the user’s system. A die hard approach would be to start every new site in the blacklist and move it to either the temporarily allowed sites or the whitelist when needed.

The temporary list would contain sites that would require cookies to work properly but that are not trusted enough – or where it is not necessary – to be placed in the whitelist.

Firefox:

If you look at the cookie management features in a blank version of Firefox – that is one without extensions – you notice that it already comes with a few features that are required. The basic settings are to accept cookies / third partie cookies and keep them until they either expire (that would be set by the webmaster of the website), you close Firefox or to ask the user how he would like to handle the cookies.

There is also an option to add exceptions. Exceptions handle cookies from websites that are entered by the user this way. Cookies of those websites can either be allowed, blocked or temporarily allowed which would exactly be what we have been looking for.

Now while this might be everything needed it is highly uncomfortable to work with. Permit Cookies is a Firefox add-on that makes the whole process easier.

Opera:

Cookie management in Opera does not come with an option to whitelist or blacklist websites. Users can accept cookies / third party cookies and also make the browser to disallow all cookies. There is an option to delete new cookies when exiting Opera and an option to ask the user whenever a new cookie is encountered.

The ability to manage cookies is different to that of Firefox. Opera users can manipulate cookie contents and delete already existing cookies. There is however no way to add exceptions.

Opera’s Site Preferences make it possible to configure cookies per website visited.

This makes it possible to accept or block cookies for specific websites.

Google Chrome:

Google Chrome’s cookie management consists of one pulldown menu with three options. Users can either allow all cookies, restrict third party cookies or block all cookies. It is possible to take a look a the cookies with the option to search and remove selected ones or all of them.

Internet Explorer 7

Internet Explorer 7 comes with sufficient cookie management. Users can use a slider to pick on of six available cookie management options. This ranges from accepting all cookies to blocking them all. In between are restrictions for some first and third party cookies.

Internet Explorer 7 makes use of a whitelist and blacklist to permanently allow or block cookies of specified websites. It’s also the only browser with options to override automatic cookie handling to configure first-party and third-party cookies in detail. At least in the main menu that is.

Conclusion:

Firefox and Internet Explorer provide the most options for their users to handle cookies. Everything that is not directly available in Firefox can be added with some extensions. Opera is the only browser that allows cookie manipulation but fails to provide a blacklist and whitelist. Google Chrome on the other hand offers a miserable cookie management.

Opera is the web browser with the most extensive options for managing cookies. It is the only browser that makes it possible to manipulate cookies. Firefox users can add this option by installing add-ons for the browser. Both Firefox and Internet Explorer come with enough options to manage cookies including the possibility to whitelist or blacklist sites.

Google Chrome on the other hand is the only browser that has an inferior cookie management with no options to add websites to a whitelist or blacklist.

Related posts

• Xenocode Web Browser Sandbox (0)
• Why you should restrict Cookie Access (4)
• Web Browser Popularity (51)
• Web Browser Memory Usage Benchmark Gets It All Wrong (15)
• Web Browser Have Impact On Battery Life (1)

The big question is how you can make sure that cookies are excepted for identification purposes and not accepted when you do not login into a website. The answer is a cookie manager that works on a per site basis. I need cookies for my blogs for instance and sites like eBay or Amazon but do not need them on sites where I do not login, say Google Search or other blogs that I do not administrate but only visit as a reader.

CS Lite is definitely one of the best Firefox Cookie Managers. The most effective way to manage cookies on your system is in my opinion to block them globally and enable them on a per-site basis. Blocking them globally ensures that no cookies will be set unless you explicitly allow them to be set. A good rule of thumb is to visit a website and if you do not recognize any problems you can keep the cookies blocked.

The first thing that I did after installation of CS Lite was to enable the global blocking of cookies in the options. The extension adds a icon to the Firefox statusbar that can be used to allow cookies for a specific site you are currently on. I did use this option to enable cookies for the sites that I visited throughout the day and that needed cookies to function properly.

I would like to point out two interesting features of the extension. The first is a blocklist that can be downloaded from the Internet. This blocklist contains more than 200 companies that set cookies to track users. This blocklist is accessible in a table that also contains the allowed domains. Downloading the blocklist makes only sense if you do not disallow cookies globally.

If you run a website and use some of those advertisement companies you should make sure to enable cookies for those services.

Related posts

• Zoom In on Images in Firefox (6)
• Webslices and Activities ported to Firefox (5)
• Web of Trust: collaborative online security (7)
• Use the Foxtor Extension for anonymous surfing (6)
• Use Splitlink for Firefox to check for Redirects (2)