I recently added a film to my rental list at the Lovefilm site. An hour later an email from Amazon offered the same film for sale. Is this a coincidence or is some program monitoring my browsing? Alan Hutchings, via email
Lovefilm is owned by Amazon, so the chances are you are the recipient of some cross-promotional marketing from the online giant. In this case, the link will have been made via your online Lovefilm account details rather than looking at your browser.
There is a type of software that does “monitor” your browsing, however: cookies. These small pieces of code are downloaded and stored by your browser when you visit certain websites. Cookies are responsible for the spooky effect where an advert for an e-commerce site you’ve visited subsequently appears on a totally different site.
Cookies can be cleared from your browser at any time: look for options such as Clear History or Clear Browser Data in the settings. And thanks to new European Union rules, websites now have to ask your permission to send a cookie. Don’t be too hard on cookies, though: they also do useful tasks such as remembering your preferences and sign-ins for sites.
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My new Dell laptop is bombarding me with pop-ups for an “upgrade discount” for DataSafe Backup. It ignores my requests to receive no further messages. How can I remove it? John H, via email
You haven’t been infected by a virus or other malware. Instead you are being subjected to “nagware”: repeating ads for a product. This one is particularly irritating because it won’t shut up when you tell it to.
DataSafe is a free service from Dell that allows you to upload pictures, music files and so on to 2GB of online storage (more if you opt for the upgrade discount and pay extra, starting at 10GB for £20 a year).
Many computer companies install nagware on their products. The PC makers are paid by the developers of the software to include them, and some will get a fee for every paid-for upgrade made. They justify the practice by saying that the revenue allows them to keep the cost of the hardware down.
I remove all nagware on principle. You can delete DataSafe by finding it in Programs and Features, in the Windows Control Panel, and clicking the uninstall option. If you like the sound of an online archive program, I recommend Dropbox, which gives you 2GB free.
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