Friday, August 27, 2010

Health Benifits of Water

Tired of Water? Read This!
By Lucy Danziger, the Editor-in-Chief of SELF magazine

Happier, Healthier You already knows drinking water is key to your health. Downing at least six cups of water daily can minimize bloating, prevent headaches, help prevent you from getting sick and smooth the appearance of wrinkles.

It may even temporarily rev your metabolism, if you drink it on the cool side (72 degrees). That's a lot of benefit from a beverage you don't even have to pay for! But H20 isn't the only sip that can safeguard your health.

Coffee, which some people accuse me of being addicted to, is basically liquid gold. It may lower your risk for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, breast cancer, skin cancer, diabetes, gallstones, even oral cancer. P.S., java drinkers make half as many errors in daily life compared with decaf fans, according to a study from Cardiff University in Wales, because caffeine helps you process information quickly. It's also linked to a reduced risk for depression. Those pit stops at Starbucks aren't just perking me up—they're protecting every part of me! Not a java junkie? Read on to learn the hidden health bennies of your favorite bevy:

Orange juice guards against heart disease. Antioxidants in OJ help protect your ticker by fighting the inflammation that can cause blood vessel damage. Consider this: People who ate fast food with a glass of orange juice had fewer artery-harming free radicals in their blood afterward than those who had their burger and fries with water, a study in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition indicates. Isn't that a great reason to choose juice? Just watch the sugars—one cup contains 21 grams and 122 calories.

Chamomile tea can keep you calm. People who downed chamomile extract daily for two months felt significantly less anxious, a study from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia reports. Ease into mellow mode at night with a cup of chamomile tea.

Cranberry juice may prevent gum disease and urinary tract infections. Natural compounds in the juice may ward off gum disease by preventing bacteria from adhering to the teeth below the gum line. Cranberry juice also delivers 39 percent of the daily value for vitamin C per 8 ounces, raises levels of good cholesterol and keeps your urinary tract tip-top. A berry smart sip indeed!

Chocolate milk keeps your abs flat. A glass of skim chocolate milk delivers a great combo of carbs and protein, helping you recover after a workout. Athletes who drank it post-workout had lower levels of muscle damage after four days of intense exercising than those who guzzled water or other recovery drinks, according to findings presented at the American College of Sports Medicine meeting in Seattle. That translates to less soreness and fatigue, so you can get back to the gym and those tummy-toning planks sooner. Simply stir 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder or syrup that has less than 20 g sugar into your milk and sip.

Green tea may keep your weight steady. Mice that exercised and drank green tea were 22 percent less likely to gain weight than those who only exercised or only had tea, according to a study in the International Journal of Obesity. Polyphenols in the drink may rev your metabolism and make it easier for your body to fry fat. Plus, the tea's plentiful stash of antioxidants slashes your risk for cancer and heart disease. Try it iced in summer!
Tomato juice may lower your cancer risk! The scarlet sip is loaded with vitamins and lycopene, which protect you against cancer. Try it with spices, a celery stalk and no vodka for a cocktail any time of day!

Black tea may help fend off skin cancer. The classic brew is loaded with flavonoids, antioxidants that carry anticancer perks. Research suggests that downing a cup or more of tea a day may lower risk for squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer, by 30 percent. Hot or iced, black tea is a delicious addition to your skin care regimen—and a lovely way to wake up thanks to its caffeine content—so put on the kettle each morning!


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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Former identity thieves confess their tactics.

Former identity thieves confess the tactics they use to scam you.
Interviews by Michelle Crouch

1. Watch your back. In line at the grocery store, I’ll hold my phone like I’m looking at the screen and snap your card as you’re using it. Next thing you know, I’m ordering things online—on your dime.

2. That red flag tells the mail carrier—and me—that you have outgoing mail. And that can mean credit card numbers and checks I can reproduce.

3. Check your bank and credit card balances at least once a week. I can do a lot of damage in the 30 days between statements.



© Comstock/Thinkstock
PLUS: 10 Ways to Protect Yourself Online

4. In Europe, credit cards have an embedded chip and require a PIN, which makes them a lot harder to hack. Here, I can duplicate the magnetic stripe technology with a $50 machine.

5. If a bill doesn’t show up when it’s supposed to, don’t breathe a sigh of relief. Start to wonder if your mail has been stolen.

6. That’s me driving through your neighborhood at 3 a.m. on trash day. I fill my trunk with bags of garbage from different houses, then sort later.

7. You throw away the darnedest things—preapproved credit card applications, old bills, expired credit cards, checking account deposit slips, and crumpled-up job or loan applications with all your personal information.

8. If you see something that looks like it doesn’t belong on the ATM or sticks out from the card slot, walk away. That’s the skimmer I attached to capture your card information and PIN.

9. Why don’t more of you call 888-5-OPTOUT to stop banks from sending you preapproved credit offers? You’re making it way too easy for me.

PLUS: 13 Things Your Financial Adviser Won't Tell You

10. I use your credit cards all the time, and I never get asked for ID. A helpful hint: I’d never use a credit card with a picture on it.

11. I can call the electric company, pose as you, and say, “Hey, I thought I paid this bill. I can’t remember—did I use my Visa or MasterCard? Can you read me back that number?” I have to be in character, but it’s unbelievable what they’ll tell me.

12. Thanks for using your debit card instead of your credit card. Hackers are constantly breaking into retail databases, and debit cards give me direct access to your banking account.

13. Love that new credit card that showed up in your mailbox. If I can’t talk someone at your bank into activating it (and I usually can), I write down the number and put it back. After you’ve activated the card, I start using it.

13 More Things An Identity Thief Won't Tell You
Interviews by Michelle Crouch

1. Watch your back. In line at the grocery store, I’ll hold my phone like I’m looking at the screen and snap your card as you’re using it. Next thing you know, I’m ordering things online—on your dime.

2. That red flag tells the mail carrier—and me—that you have outgoing mail. And that can mean credit card numbers and checks I can reproduce.

3. Check your bank and credit card balances at least once a week. I can do a lot of damage in the 30 days between statements.

4. In Europe, credit cards have an embedded chip and require a PIN, which makes them a lot harder to hack. Here, I can duplicate the magnetic stripe technology with a $50 machine.

5. If a bill doesn’t show up when it’s supposed to, don’t breathe a sigh of relief. Start to wonder if your mail has been stolen.


© Comstock/Thinkstock6. That’s me driving through your neighborhood at 3 a.m. on trash day. I fill my trunk with bags of garbage from different houses, then sort later.

7. You throw away the darnedest things—preapproved credit card applications, old bills, expired credit cards, checking account deposit slips, and crumpled-up job or loan applications with all your personal information.

8. If you see something that looks like it doesn’t belong on the ATM or sticks out from the card slot, walk away. That’s the skimmer I attached to capture your card information and PIN.

9. Why don’t more of you call 888-5-OPTOUT to stop banks from sending you preapproved credit offers? You’re making it way too easy for me.

10. I use your credit cards all the time, and I never get asked for ID. A helpful hint: I’d never use a credit card with a picture on it.

11. I can call the electric company, pose as you, and say, “Hey, I thought I paid this bill. I can’t remember—did I use my Visa or MasterCard? Can you read me back that number?” I have to be in character, but it’s unbelievable what they’ll tell me.

12. Thanks for using your debit card instead of your credit card. Hackers are constantly breaking into retail databases, and debit cards give me direct access to your banking account.

13. Love that new credit card that showed up in your mailbox. If I can’t talk someone at your bank into activating it (and I usually can), I write down the number and put it back. After you’ve activated the card, I start using it.

How to Hide from Friends You Don't Like

How to Hide from Friends You Don't Like

With more than 500 million people now on Facebook, it's inevitable that you'll be friended by someone you know, but with whom you don't want to share your online life. Once you've accepted them as a friend, how do you avoid them without the awkwardness of unfriending them?

Facebook has made it easy to hide other members' status updates. Place your mouse over an update from, say, Charlie, and a light blue X appears to the upper right corner of the update. Click the X, and Facebook will present you with three buttons from which to choose: Hide Charlie, Mark as Spam and Cancel. If you click Hide Charlie, you'll never see Charlie's updates again. (Click Spam and the message disappears and a notice gets sent to Facebook's servers and analyzed by spam filtering software.)

But how do you keep Charlie from reading your updates? Skirting your way around someone you've accepted as a Facebook friend is trickier. When you write a status update of your own, look for the lock-shaped icon below and to the right of the text input box. Click on the lock, and Facebook will pop up a menu. Click the bottom option, Customize. That will pop up a dialog box labeled Custom Privacy that lets you filter who will see your update.

There are two ways to exclude people. The quick and easy way is to type their names into the box labeled "Hide this from these people" at the bottom of the dialog box. To hide all future updates from these folks, click the checkbox at the very bottom that says "Make this my default setting." Then click the big blue Save Setting button. From now on, evil Charlie won't get your updates.The more sophisticated solution is to replace this blacklist with a list of people you do like. That way you can accept any number of new friends without having to accidentally share your updates with them.

To do this, click on Friends in the left margin of Facebook's interface. You'll see a button at the top of the Friends page labeled "+ Create a List". Click that and use the dialog box that pops up to make a list of the friends you want to share with. Call it, say, True Friends.

Next time you post an update, follow the instructions above to bring up the Customize dialog box. But instead of typing into the "Hide this" field, click the menu at the top labeled "Make this visible to these people." Select the option Specific People. A text input box will appear. Type the name of your new list, True Friends, into this field. Click "Make this my default setting" and then Save Setting. From now on, only your True Friends list will see your updates. Complicated and annoying, yes, but probably much less so than it was going to high school with Charlie.

Got a how-to question about Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace or another social network? Hit me up on Facebook [http://paulboutin.socialtoo.com], Twitter [http://twitter.com/paulboutin], or email [mailto:boutin@gmail.com]. All correspondence will be kept confidential.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Top 10 Tips to Fight Depression

Top 10 Tips to Fight Depression
By The Lifescript Editorial Staff


RELATED LINKS Eccentric or Undiagnosed Great Expectations

Holiday Depression HelpDepression
Looking for a blue-mood pick-me-up? Don’t crawl back into bed with the sheets over your head. Check out our top 10 ways to beat the blues. Plus, could you be clinically depressed? Take our quiz to find out…

1. Unload Your Schedule: Between driving carpool, working, volunteering at the kids’ school and managing your packed to-do list, your life is a whirlwind. It's exhausting and makes even the fun stuff un-fun.

Work overload can cause depression, says Harold Levinson, M.D, a New York-based psychiatrist and neurologist.

So why do we say “yes” to extra responsibilities in the first place? Because we're human and enjoy togetherness.

“We’re inherently social” and like to be involved in group events, says Catherine Birndorf, M.D., founding director of the Payne Whitney Women’s Program at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. “The problem is that party or bake sale is part of a week that includes 20 other things."

So what’s the solution?

Prioritize. “Look at the bigger picture,” Birndorf says. Decide which activities you really want to do and assess whether they realistically fit into your schedule.

2. Laugh More: Laughter really is the best medicine. Studies show that simply smiling will send serotonin levels soaring, making you feel better physically.

So put some fun in your life, whether it's reading a good book or learning to parasail. Even simpler, learn some new jokes and share them with co-workers – just keep it clean so you don’t get in trouble!

3. Avoid Alcohol: A social calendar jam-packed with happy-hour drinks with the girls may keep your mood festive. But watch out: You may be belting out post-party pity tunes. Why?

“Alcohol is actually a central nervous system depressant,” Birndorf says.

Besides, you’ll pay the next day with a hangover.

“You’re not as functional as usual, which can make you feel even worse,” she says.

So pace yourself, experts say. If you have three get-togethers in one week, decide how many drinks you’ll have at each and alternate between cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages. Also, fill your tummy with food to cut alcohol’s impact.

4. Accentuate the Positive: Focus on the good things in your life, especially when you feel buried under stress and worry.

“You’re much more in control once you take a step back and look at what’s going on and what you might do to help yourself feel better,” says Donna Colabella, a clinician at the Mental Health Center of Greater Manchester in New Hampshire.

Is work getting to you? Take a time-out. Turn away from the task at hand, close your eyes for a minute and think about something that makes you happy.

It may be as small as a new pair of shoes or as big as having good health. Hold on to the thought and visualize something you’re looking forward to – maybe an evening out with friends or a date with a hot new guy.

5. Food, Glorious Food: Certain vitamins and nutrients, like omega-3 fatty acids, change the brain chemistry that affects your mood.

Studies have shown that eating foods high in omega-3 fatty acids can improve your mood, says Jill Weisenberger, Lifescript nutrition expert and a nutritionist at National Clinical Research – Norfolk, Va.

Fatty cold-water fish, such as salmon, anchovies, herring and mackerel, are one of the best sources of omega-3s. But “women of childbearing potential or nursing mothers shouldn’t eat mackerel because of its high mercury content,” she says.

B vitamins – especially B6, B12 and folic acid – may also help.

Eat foods such as sunflower seeds, oranges, beets and leafy green vegetables every day to avoid mood swings.

Vitamin D offers a double dose of nutritional goodness. It can cut the risk of osteoporosis and relieve symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a depression that typically occurs in winter, when there are fewer hours of sunshine.

6. Don’t Deny Grief or Loneliness: The death of a loved one – especially after the first year or two – can trigger depression and loneliness. The same holds true if your children are with the ex or a close friend or family member has moved away.

You can’t avoid the pain, says psychotherapist Richard O'Connor, Ph.D., Lifescript’s depression expert and author of Happy at Last (St. Martin’s Press). “What makes the difference is what you do with those feelings.”

Be honest with yourself. “If you try to deny the pain and put on a happy face, it’ll get to you, often as depression,” O’Connor says.

Instead, acknowledge that you’re missing someone and share your feelings with a trusted friend or family member.

Find a way to connect to your absent loved one, Birndorf says. Little reminders of them may help. For example, wear a piece of your grandmother’s jewelry or make your son’s favorite recipe - for yourself.

7. Try an Alternative Approach: Some natural treatments or approaches may help boost your spirits:

Aromatherapy: Breathe in and soothe your mood with aromatherapy using concentrated essential oils from plants. Those that may help include clary sage, bergamot, geranium, lavender, lemon and rose.

Dilute them with vegetable oil and massage into your skin, add a few drops to the bath or warm them over a diffuser (the heat will spread the scent throughout the room).

Acupuncture: Many acupuncture practitioners also encourage meditation and relaxation during the session, which can help clear the mind of stress and negative thoughts. Acupuncture may also give some patients a new appreciation of their body’s capabilities and strengths.

Make sure your acupuncturist is certified; many are also medical doctors.

8. Know Your Symptoms: If you're still having trouble beating the blahs, you may be clinically depressed. See a dr. if you have at least six of the following 10 symptoms:

Persistent feelings of sadness, anxiety or emptiness, decreased appetite and weight loss, insomnia, waking up early in the morning or oversleeping, restlessness, Fatigue or less energy, feelings of hopelessness and pessimism & worthlessness, helplessness or excessive guilt. Loss of interest or pleasure in once-enjoyable activities Difficulty concentrating, remembering and making decisions Recurrent thoughts of death or suicide.

9. Talk to a Doctor. She can determine if medication is right for you, says Josh Klapow, Ph.D., associate professor of health care organization and policy at the University of Alabama in Birmingham and co-author of Living SMART: Five Essential Skills to Change Your Health Habits Forever (DiaMedica Publications).

Antidepressants relieve depression by working on brain chemicals called neurotransmitters – serotonin and norepinephrine. They give you that “happy feeling,” and raising their levels can boost your mood.

Here are 3 classes of antidepressants your doctor may prescribe:

Selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SSNRIs): These are among the newest class of antidepressants − they include Cymbalta, Effexor and Pristiq − that increase the activity of both serotonin and norepinephrine in the brain.

Unlike older antidepressants, SSNRIs can be prescribed at full dose immediately, so you may feel better faster. Common side effects include diminished appetite and sexual function and sleepiness or insomnia.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs): These antidepressants, which include Lexapro, Prozac, Paxil and Zoloft, boost only serotonin levels. They have fewer side effects than other antidepressants, including dry mouth, nausea, nervousness, insomnia, headache and sexual dysfunction.

Tricyclics: Like SSNRIs, this older family of medications – including Elavil, Norpramin and Tofranil – affects both serotonin and norepinephrine levels. But tricyclics are dosed gradually and take longer to provide relief.

Side effects are also more severe, and include dry mouth, blurred vision, constipation, difficulty urinating, impaired thinking and fatigue.

10. Go for Psychological Counseling
Research shows that medication and therapy together are more effective than either by itself, says O’Connor.

“Medication can help more quickly than therapy alone and can help to prevent the out-of-control mood swings that come during recovery,” he says. Therapy helps "resolve the problems that led to the depression and teaches us how to prevent future episodes.”

When looking for a therapist, consider these questions:

Does gender matter to me? Does he or she accept my insurance? What is the attendance policy? Where is the office located?
For more information, check out our Depression Health Center.

Could You Be Depressed?
About 20 million people a year suffer from depression, a disorder that compromises one's ability to function normally day to day. Find out if you're just blue or clinically depressed with our quiz.

Check out Health Bistro for more healthy food for thought. See what Lifescript editors are talking about and get the skinny on latest news. Share it with your friends (it’s free to sign up!), and bookmark it so you don’t miss a single juicy post!

10 Tactics for Overcoming Sugar Addiction

10 Tactics for Overcoming Sugar Addiction
By Jeffrey Rossman, Ph.D., Rodale.com

Hyperglycemia (High Blood Sugar)
Staywell
Hyperactivity and sugar
A.D.A.M.

More Articles »Health SearchDrug Search
Explore and compare medications Are you addicted to sugar?

When I ask that question, most people attending my weight-management lectures raise their hand. Addiction to sugar is stronger for some people than others, but the truth is sugar is a powerfully addictive substance. If you've overindulged in cookies, candy, cake, or ice cream—and who hasn't, at some point—you know its seductive pull. Food manufacturers bank on it when they load sugar into soft drinks, breakfast cereal, soups, salad dressings, spaghetti sauce, energy bars, and even catsup.

THE DETAILS: Addiction to sugar is probably more common than you think. Americans consume an average of 20 to 30 teaspoons (about ½ cup!) daily of this substance, which has been linked to a variety of health problems, including obesity, hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), attention and memory problems, hyperactivity, anxiety, and depression. Every month a new study comes out adding to the list of dangers posed by consuming sugar and its cousins, high-fructose corn syrup, maltose, and dextrose. Despite the risks, we continue to eat sugar because it is so addictive.

Would a tax on sugary drinks and sweets help you slim down?

In fact, sugar meets all the criteria for an addictive substance:


•It stimulates release of neurotransmitters in the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin, in a manner similar to alcohol, cocaine, and other drugs of abuse.
•People eat it compulsively, despite negative consequences and the intention to stop.
•With continued use, people develop a tolerance to its effects.
•Heavy sugar consumers have trouble functioning without it.
•When consumption ceases, withdrawal symptoms occur.


WHAT IT MEANS: Breaking free from a dependency on sugar is easier said than done. Because the roots of sugar addiction are both physical and emotional, you need a combination of physical and psychological approaches. The less you eat sugar, the less you will crave it. If you get withdrawal symptoms, know they will only last a few days and then you'll feel more balanced and energetic than ever.

These 10 recommendations will make it easier to get a sugar problem under control.

#1: Keep sugar and sugar products out of your house. This includes white and brown sugar, corn syrup, and maple syrup.

#2: Eat enough healthy food to satisfy your hunger. Eat healthy, whole food snacks like fruit, carrots, red pepper, cherry tomatoes, dates, and dried fruit to satisfy your sweet tooth. Drink plenty of water, too. Add a little fruit juice to sweeten iced tea, carbonated water, and other sugar-free drinks. Frozen fruit, whole or pureed, makes a delicious alternative to ice cream. Once you have cleared sugar from your system, your taste buds will become more sensitive, and these whole natural foods will taste sweeter and more satisfying. If you slow down and eat mindfully, you'll enjoy these foods even more.

#3: Eat three regular meals each day that combine complex carbohydrates (vegetables, whole grains, and fruits), lean protein (poultry, fish, meat, dairy, tofu) and healthy fats (milk, cheese, omega-3's, olive oil and other cold-pressed oils). This will help you maintain a steady blood sugar level throughout the day and reduce your sugar cravings. Eating a diet high in fiber also helps to reduce sugar cravings.

Drop those fries! Sugar is just as addictive and bad for you as excess sodium.

#4: Take a multivitamin and mineral supplement. Chromium picolinate and l-glutamine help to reduce cravings for some people.

#5: When you go out, make sure you are not ravenously hungry, especially if sugary sweets will be the only food available. Bring your own healthy snacks with you, or eat before going out.

#6: Get regular exercise, plenty of sunlight, and adequate sleep to reduce sugar cravings.

#7: Learn to identify and manage cravings that are not a result of physical hunger, but instead are rooted in stress or anxiety. Develop alternative ways of managing stress: Take a walk, call a friend, read a book, play with your pet, watch a movie. Breathe, meditate, listen to music, or take a hot bath to activate your body's relaxation response. Relaxation helps to balance your blood sugar and reduce cravings.

Would a tax on sugary drinks and sweets help you slim down?

#8: If you have turned to sugar to deal with uncomfortable feelings, learn to identify the specific feelings and respond appropriately to them. If you are tired, take a break or rest, rather than trying to persevere in the face of fatigue. If you are bored, find something stimulating to do. If you are lonely, reach out to a friend. Overcoming your sugar addiction involves really paying attention to what you are feeling, and giving yourself what you really need instead of using sugar as a substitute.

#9: If you do overindulge in sugar, acknowledge that you slipped, and get back on track as soon as possible. Let go of the guilt and shame. Eating sugar is unhealthy, but it's not a sin. As with other addictions, it doesn't matter if you need multiple attempts to quit, just that you keep trying until it sticks.

#10: Be kind to yourself. To end the struggle with sugar, learn to nourish your body well and respond compassionately to your own feelings. The best sugar substitute is genuine self-acceptance.

Jeffrey Rossman, Ph.D., is a Rodale.com advisor and director of life management at Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA. His column, "Mind-Body-Mood Advisor," appears weekly on Rodale.com.

Monday, August 2, 2010

Maintaing Anonimity On Line

How to Avoid the Prying Eyes
by Jennifer Valentino-Devries

The Internet is rife with surveillance technology, but you can cover some of your tracks

More from WSJ.com:

• How to Control Your Privacy Online

• The Web's New Gold Mine: Your Secrets

• Sites Feed Personal Details to New Tracking Industry

Visitors to almost every major website are tracked online, a Journal investigation has found. But there are ways to limit the snooping.

Web browsing activity is tracked by use of "cookies," "beacons" and "Flash cookies," small computer files or software programs installed on a user's computer by the Web pages that are visited. Some are useful. But a subset ("third party" cookies and beacons) are used by companies to track users from site to site and build a database of their online activities.

Simple Steps


Major browsers including Microsoft Corp.'s (NasdaqGS: MSFT - News) Internet Explorer, Mozilla Foundation's Firefox, Google Inc.'s (NasdaqGS: GOOG - News) Chrome and Apple Inc.'s (NasdaqGS: AAPL - News) Safari, have privacy features. To have the most privacy options, upgrade to the latest version of the browser you use.

Check and Delete Cookies: All popular browsers let users view and delete cookies installed on their computer. Methods vary by browser.

For instance on Internet Explorer 8 (the most widely used browser), go to the "Tools" menu, pull down to "Internet Options" and under the "General" tab there are options for deleting some or all cookies. There might be hundreds, so deleting all might be easiest. But the next time you visit a favorite site, you may need to retype passwords or other login data previously stored automatically by one of those cookies.

Adjust Browser Settings: Once you've deleted cookies, you can limit the installation of new ones. Major browsers let you accept some cookies and block others. To maintain logins and settings for sites you visit regularly, but limit tracking, block "third-party" cookies. Safari automatically does this; other browsers must be set manually.

There are downsides to blocking all cookies. If you frequent sites that require logins, you will have to log in each time you visit.

Internet Explorer lets you set rules for blocking cookies based on the policies of the cookie-placer. One option blocks cookies that don't include a privacy policy; another blocks cookies that can save your contact information without your approval. The control is under "Tools/Internet Options/Privacy."

No major browsers let you track or block beacons without installing extra software known as "plug-ins," as described under advanced steps.

Turn On "Private" Browsing: All major browsers offer a "private browsing" mode to limit cookies. Chrome calls it "Incognito." Internet Explorer calls it "InPrivate Browsing," but this option is available only in the latest version, IE8.

Private browsing doesn't block cookies. It deletes cookies each time you close the browser or turn off private browsing, effectively hiding your history.

Private browsing isn't selective. It deletes all cookies, whether useful or not. So you might want to use private browsing selectively, such as when looking at health-related information.

Monitor "Flash Cookies": Another kind of cookie uses Adobe Systems Inc.'s popular Flash program to save information on your computer. Flash is the most common way to show video online. As with regular cookies, Flash cookies can be useful for remembering preferences, such as volume settings for videos. But marketers also can use Flash cookies to track what you do online.

To identify the Flash cookies on your computer and adjust your settings, you need to go to an Adobe website:

www.macromedia.com/support/documentation/en/flashplayer/help/settings_manager.html. You can delete Flash cookies stored on your computer and specify whether you want to accept future third-party Flash cookies.

The downside of blocking third-party Flash cookies: Some sites won't let you watch videos or other content.

Advanced Steps

Install Privacy "Plug-ins": Small programs called "add-ons" or "plug-ins" can help maintain privacy. Some let you monitor trackers that can't be seen through the browser; others allow you to delete cookies on a regular schedule.

Not all browsers can use all plug-ins. And some plug-ins can be tricky to set up. With those caveats, some plug-ins may be worth a look:

Abine: Developed by a Cambridge, Mass., start-up of the same name, it attempts to control several types of trackers. Once installed, the program will warn you when a site is placing cookies or Flash cookies on your machine. You can also see and block a third type of tracker called a Web "beacon" (sometimes called a "bug"). This is an invisible object embedded in a page that can interact with cookies. It's available only in "test" versions, so this is only for people who don't mind experimenting a bit with software. For Firefox, go to addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/11073/. For Internet Explorer, users need to request an invitation at getabine.com.

Better Privacy: This plug-in offers control over Flash cookies. It doesn't block them, but lets you set rules for deleting them—a distinction that can be helpful if you frequent sites that require you to use third-party Flash cookies to see their content. Better Privacy (available only for Firefox) is at addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6623/.

Ghostery: Available at ghostery.com, it helps control beacons. It alerts you when there's a beacon on a page you're viewing, tells you who placed it and details the company's privacy policy. With Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can then block the beacon from capturing information on your computer. That feature isn't available for Chrome.

Controlling Ads

Users troubled by targeted advertising can block or limit the ads being shown. Note: These tools don't necessarily restrict tracking. Some ad networks may still collect data on your browsing behavior and share it with others, even if you instruct them not to show you targeted ads.

The Network Advertising Initiative, an industry group of marketing companies, lets computer users opt out of targeted ads from about 50 ad networks at networkadvertising.org.

If you opt out, you won't be shown ads tied to your browsing behavior from the member networks. But you'll still see ads, which may be placed based on criteria such as your location.

PrivacyChoice LLC, an independent group, maintains a Web site (privacychoice.org/choose) that covers 152 ad networks. You can opt out of most by clicking a button there. For some, you'll need to download a plug-in, but it works only with Firefox.

Ironically, these opt-out systems work by installing a cookie on your computer. That cookie tells ad networks to stop sending targeted ads to your computer. Because these systems rely on a cookie to work, you'll need to opt out all over again any time you delete cookies from your machine.