PPrune is implanting some rather nasty cookies onto your computer. I’ve seen this only recently and believe they come from some advertising banners.
What’s a cookie? A cookie is a small text file stored on your computer that contains some commands encoded in this text file. Most cookies are quite useful. For example the cookies from pprune.com keep track of articles you’ve read for you, remember your password and lots more. Such cookies don’t transfer data.
However, there are some very dangerous cookies around as well. Some cookies can contain command code to transfer or even delete files to/from your computer, search for your personal details on your machine and transfer such data via the Internet to the cookie owner. The info ‘stolen’ most often is your name and e-mail but also postal address and phone number! The processes controlled by cookies function in the background without your knowledge and control!!!
I found that access to pprune implants cookies from “doubleclick.net”, “valueclick.com”, “www.addfreestats.com”, etc.
These are Internet behaviour tracking companies. This means they get your personal details, at least your name and e-mail, and watch all your steps on the Internet. Every time you click on a link this information is stored in a central computer. Over some time such database serves to figure out your main areas of interest and this information is sold to advertising companies. Thus you will suddenly be targeted with advertising via e-mail, post or by phone calls according to your internet activities. So don’t be surprised if after playing a little with adult pages you start getting e-mail advertising naked girls or Viagra pills!
I post this to make all user and the pprune administrators aware of this problem. It is a favourite trick of banner advertisers to set unsolicited and unwanted cookies.
Remedies: The best would be if the advertisers on pprune would be kindly asked to stop this nonsense. But what can the average user do? Your browser security settings allow, depending on platform and browser, to mange cookie security settings. All browsers allow by default all cookies. Some browsers allow you to allow cookies from the actual page but to deny any other cookie. This is obviously the best setting. Most browser allow a setting whereas the user has to confirm each cookie. Try it and you will be surprised how many cookies there are. Not a satisfactory solution.
For my part I very regularly delete all cookies and go on with life. ‘Very regularly’ means at least each time I terminate my Internet connection. You can find little programs on the Internet that do that job for you and even automatically. Check for your browser and platform at places such as
www.shareware.com or
www.tucows.com. 
Happy browsing
BeePee
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Diesel 8 forever!