• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, April 25, 2005

Nearly three out of 10 online consumers--27 percent--use anti-spyware software to erase cookies weekly, according to a new report based on a survey of 800 online consumers by Horizon Interactive and InsightExpress.

Cookies have taken center stage in the online ad industry since last March, when Jupiter Research shocked many with a report revealing that that 39 percent of consumers delete cookies at least monthly.

The Horizon study, scheduled for release this week, found that 70 percent of consumers use some form of anti-spyware software. Of that group, 79.5 report running anti-spyware programs at least once a week and almost half, 48.3 percent, use the programs to delete cookies.

Separately, InsightExpress said last week that its research showed that that "the deletion of cookies [is] greatly exaggerated." InsightExpress reached that conclusion after asking respondents if they would be willing to delete cookies; half said they were, but only 35 percent of that group successfully did so.