Computer Help Needed (1 Viewer)

[Joe Karlosi]

I'm hoping someone can steer me in the right direction here. For the past couple of days, every time I turn my computer on I am no longer remembered on any of the forums I like to visit, and I have to Log In each and every time, for every one of them. I'm a real novice when it comes to computers, but doesn't this mean that my "cookies" are no longer being remembered? This is very unusual, because I never have had to log in again as a regular thing like this. Anyone know what's happening or how I can fix this? Thanks.

 

[Jon_Are]

Ummmm...that would be toward the Computers section of the forum.

Jon

 

[Evelio Figueroa]

The problem could be the board itself.

http://www.phpbb.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=343010

 

[SethH]

There are a couple possibilities. One is a problem with the board . . . as Evelio mentioned. Another is that you didn't visit any of the boards for a long time (perhaps 3 weeks) and the computer forgot the information for them. Another is that your cookies got deleted. You apparently didn't delete them, but if you have a spouse or kids they may have . . . there are lots of things people look at on the internet that make them want to delete all cookies to get rid of their tracks.

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Windows XP keeps separate profiles and cookies for individual users, so if everybody on a multiuser system has their own login, they'll only delete their own cookies.

There are couple of possibilities here. Cookies may only have a life of "x" days or weeks in your settings because you've got an automatic clean-up scheduled. If you have Automatic Updates set to download and intall all Windows updates you may have received an IE or Windows system update the changed your security settings. (SP2 did this, and so have some others.) You may also have deliberately gone through a manual clean-up of your temp files and deleted the cookies by mistake, or used a clean-up wizard that deleted the cookies without your realizing it. (Sometimes "delete" certain items is the default choice in these things and you have to unselect it to prevent the deletion. Other times the notoriously opaque way that Microsoft writes instructions causes users to delete things they don't want to, sometimes without having any idea that they did so.)

I'd go into the "security" and "advanced" tabs in Tools, Internet Options and check every single setting.

Regards,

Joe

 

[Joe Karlosi]

It cannot be either one of these things, as I go on the boards EVERY DAY, nonstop, practically! I've been doing this for a few years without a problem. Also, this is happening to ALL the forums I frequent - not only one bad one or anything - and it has never occurred to any of them before.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Still no good. I've also tried RESET WEB SETTINGS.

Yet this morning when I turned my computer back on, each of my favorite websites still asks me to "LOGIN or REGISTER". :frowning:

Any other ideas, anyone?

 

[Colin Davidson]

Joe -

You mention turning your computer off and on.

Please try this:

1. Shut your machine off, wait 30 seconds and then turn it back on.

2. Go to one of your frequently visited sites and enter your user name and password. Click around a bit.

3. Now close your browser for 30 seconds, open it again and go back to the site you just visited. Are you able to automatically log back in?

If you can then it does not appear to be your browser that is the problem it would have to be some other program that is automatically deleting cookies when you shut down.

I will do a bit more research and check back for your answer on the above. Also please confirm what browser version you are using. You can find this out by clicking on Help and then scrolling down to About Internet Explorer.

Regards,

Colin

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Thanks, Colin. Yes, I am able to keep LOGGED IN as I go around from site to site, back and forth again during the same seesion. It's only when I shut down for good, and then turn the computer on again at a later time that the cookies seem to automatically get shut down (as you suggested). Once I'm logged in, I'm good to go indefinitely until I shut the machine off.

When I scroll down in HELP it says "About America Online". It gives the basic 9.0, Windows XP... (and to give you an idea of how clueless I am about computers, I don't even know what a 'browser' is)

 

[Joseph DeMartino]

Well, I think we've found his problem...

 

[nolesrule]

The AOL browsers seem to have problems with cookies sometimes. I have a forum on one of my websites where AOL users (and only AOL users) don't seem to be able to stay logged in with cookies when using the AOL internal web browser. My suggestion is always to use Mozilla, Firefox, IE (yeah, I know, but at least I didn't list it first), Opera or a mainstream browser for their OS platform.

 

[Robert_Gaither]

Do you turn your computer on/off each day and if so does a spy-ware defense tool comes on? Some these will delete any saved forms, passwords, history, and cookies.

 

[Colin Davidson]

Unfortunately I am not very familiar with the AOL browser and from what Joe Kauffman said above it appears to be a problem with that specific browser. I would concur that if you could switch to a different browser that should certainly resolve the problem you are experiencing.

Robert G: He did indicate that it only occured when he shut his machine down. I too am wondering if there is an anti-spyware or other security program running that deletes the cookies upon shutdown.

Joe Karlosi: If you try a different browser and it still does not retain the cookies, post here again and I will walk you through how to see what is running on your machine and we can hopefully pin down what is removing the cookies and get it turned off.

Regards,

Colin

 

[Joe Karlosi]

There was always one particular EZboard that I visit every day where my AOL browser always had problems - meaning that I always had to LOG IN every time I turned the computer back on. However, this was only that ONE site, and I was always prepared for that one... and many other AOL people seemed to have the same difficulty. But as I say, this inconvenience was only for that ONE forum, so it was no big deal to keep logging back in.

There are 3 other sites I visit every day (this being one of them) and those always retained the cookies. But now, none of them do.

I've been getting things on the bottom of my screen lately ("Lycos Search"...?) and they pop right on my screen sometimes and I always have to "X" them out. I used to get the SPYWARE defense message in the lower right corner every time I first went online, for a few seconds -- but then it stopped appearing recently, for some reason. So just yesterday I turned it on again, to try and block spyware...

 

[Rommel_L]

Joe,

The AOL browser is also using (or piggybacking) the Internet Options for IE. Check these settings, reboot and see if they work.

Goto Start -> Control Panel -> Internet Options.

Goto the Privacy Tab -> Advanced. Put a check in the box beside Override automatic cookie handling. Click on Accept beside First-party Cookies and Block beside Third-party Cookies. Put a check in the box beside Allow session cookies. Click OK.

Goto the Advanced Tab. Under security, make there there is no check in the box beside Empty Temporary Internet Files folder when browser is closed. Click Apply.