why are cookies being classified as spywares? I don't get it, I thought they are like documents.

Some are needed.
Like cookies for logging in automatically to email or this forum & other trusted sites.

Some track your surfing habits & send information to where ever the cookie belongs to.
They are called tracking cookies.

Ccleaner is useful in clearing unwanted cookies & keeping wanted cookies.

You can get it here--

http://www.ccleaner.com/

Here is the link to their forum--

http://forum.ccleaner.com/

Adaware can remove bad cookies.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Cookies are messages given to a Web browser by a Web server. Whenever you visit a page with your browser, the browser stores the message in a text file that is sent back to the server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies allow third-party providers such as ad serving networks, spyware or adware providers to track personal information. The main purpose of cookies is to identify users and prepare customized Web pages for them.

Cookies can be categorized as:

* Trusted cookies are from sites you trust, use often, and want to be able to identify and personalize content for you.
* Nuisance cookies are from those sites you do not recognize or often use but somehow it's put a cookie on your machine.
* Bad cookies are those that can be linked to an ad company or something that tracks your movements across the web.

The type of cookie that is a cause for concern is the last category because they are used to track your Web browsing habits (your movement from site to site). Ad companies use them to record your activity on all sites where they have placed ads. When you visit one of these sites, a cookie is placed on your computer. Each time you visit another site that hosts one of their ads, that same cookie is read, and soon they have assembled a list of which of their sites you have visited and which of their ads that you have clicked on. They are used all over the Internet and advertisement companies often plant them whenever your browser loads one of their banners.

These bad cookies are called "profiling cookies," "persistent cookies," "long term tracking cookies," "third party tracking cookies" or simply "tracking cookies."

Persistent cookie (stored cookie) is a permanent cookie that is stored on a user’s hard drive until it expires or until the user deletes the cookie. Persistent cookies are set with expiration dates and are used to collect identifying information about the user, such as Web surfing behavior or user preferences for a specific Web site.

Session cookie (transient cookie) is a temporary cookie that is erased from memory when the Web browser is closed. Session cookies do not collect information from the user’s computer. They typically will store information in the form of a session identification that does not personally identify the user.

Opt-out cookies are cookies that are placed on your computer just like regular ones. The difference is that these cookies tell the marketing company to stop tracking your movements.

Blocking Unwanted Cookies
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/cookies.htm

wow, thats alot about cookies, i didn't know they are so harmful, i better start cleaning them regularly......

Be very cautions using CCleaner, since it can also candidate for deletion files you would want to keep; if you are not very careful about using it, it can cause problems with your applications. Instead of using CCleaner, I would recommend either Spybot or Ad-AwareSE; either of these will search your cookies for the bad ones and candidate those it finds for deletion. Remember, though, that definitions of "bad" cookies vary from one company to the next; some rather harmless cookies MAY be considered tracking cookies by one company or another, so carefully review these before deleting them.
Regards,
John

oh oops.. Spybot or Ad-AwareSE ok, ill try to get them.