SO much misinformation out there.....

Cookies are stored on your computer. When you visit a site that has a cookie, all the cookie does is remembers any account information you had to set up for that site. The cookie itself is not dangerous and they never have been. The history again is just a browser tool to say you typing. It doesn't "reach out" to anything. Cookies are NOT malicious in any way. Yet the media says so.

The reason you would delete anything like that is to speed your browsing up. If you have 10,000 sites in your history, you make your computer look through 10,000 lines asking "Do I have this? Do I have this? DO I have this?" There is some convenience to the browser remembering but there is a point of diminishing returns.

All your really need to do is download Malwarebytes and let it run. It will block any malicious attempts to reach you, and yes, there are port scanners running that are looking at your computer 24/7. Whether they get IN or not is another story, but some robot port scanner program somewhere is scanning every IP looking for open ports they can exploit. I used to do this when I was young. I know very well how it works. Thus I know how to stop it. And Malwarebytes is the best real time tool right now. Super AntiSpyware is the best "as you run it" tool right now. I still run Norton in the background too. Never had a virus.

I am using the new 1040XTRAEZ form this year. It has just 2 lines.

1. How much did you make in 2023?
2. Send it to us.