Computer help - Cookies

[EmilyB]

Hi, I've lost all my cookies for some reason. All my logins are gone, and even if I log in and say remember me, it's not working. Not just here, but other boards, and bank sites, etc. Can you tell me what happend and how to fix it ? :sad:

[skylord]

First thing to try is rebooting.

Scott

[EmilyB]

Hi Scott,

I've shut the system down many times.

[skylord]

If you are using IE6, at the top of the screen go to Tools-->Internet Options-->Privacy and set the slider to "Accept All Cookies". Make sure you remember were the setting is before you change it. Close IE, and then re-open it and try again.

Scott

[Quagmire]

If you're running firefox.Open the browser,click on tools at the top,click options and a box will come up.Click on the cookies tab,then select "allow sites to set cookies" Under the choices given for setting cookies you will see "keep cookies" along with a drop dpwn menu.From that select "until they expire"

[Scavenger]

I highly recommend you scan your system for spyware. I use spybot (a free download). I had issues similar a while back where my cookie folder corrupted frequently. It was spyware. Some spyware out there can detect and record all your passwords ect. I'd check to be safe.

[EmilyB]

Okay I'm terrifed. I thought McAfee protects me. In the log, it said realtime virus checking was disabled, yet McAfee says all my security programs say they are fine. I used Spybot to scan and I have a Trojan among 1900 or so other things........I have to register with Spybot to have them removed. Should I do that ?

I'm on our other computer right now, the cookies seem to be fine here, although the computers are networked.

[DanG]

You don't need to register with spybot to get it to remove anything.
Before you go any further with spybot, have you updated it? Click the update icon, click search for updates, check off all of them and then hit the download updates button. This may take several minutes before they're all downloaded and applied, it may require spybot to restart which it will do automatically. Next, click the button that says immunize. It will check your system quickly, and it should automatically block about 20,000 things from getting in again.
Next, click on the button that says check for problems. This will run the scan, when it's done, right click not on on an icon and chose the option for select all. Then click the button at the top that say fix selected problems. This may also take several minutes, and if there's something in use, it will ask if spybot can run on next reboot, say yes if this comes up. Then restart your computer and let it run on boot to get the remaining junk.

Just to make sure you don't have any other viruses kicking around on your system, check out the Trend Micro online housecall. It's a free online virus scan, and if there's stuff that Mcafee has missed, Housecall will find it.
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

When your subscription for mcafee runs out, I'd recommend not renewing it and go with a different antivirus program. I have found AVG to be far superior toanything that Symantec (Norton) has made in the last 6 or 7 years, same with Mcafee.
AVG is free and can be found here. http://free.grisoft.com

[PeterU]

Here is the website for downloading Spybot. It is free and does not require registering (they do accept donations).
http://www.spybot.info/en/download/index.html

Another one to run is Ad-Aware (also free).
http://www.lavasoft.com/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php

I also use AVG-free addition for virus protection.

[andsoitgoes]

If you need on the go help, hit me up on aim and I can try to walk you through some of the steps.

Otherwise, the *safest* option is to wipe the computer and start from scratch. You'd need to do a backup up, but having been working with computers professionally for 10 years, that's the failsafe option and your computer will run faster, too!! :)

[EmilyB]

Thanks guys, I inadvertantly got Spywarebot, and not Spybot. On this machine, Spybot only found four problems vs the 115 Spywarebot found, and they wanted money to fix, go figure.....

I also ran trendmicro on here.

I'll tackle my major problem upstairs next.

P.S. Nick, what is AIM??:redface:

[Scavenger]

Once you get it sorted Emily, change all your passwords, also a good idea to change your bank account number to be safe.

You do have to be careful of some of these spyware detectors, as they will plug your system with spyware and then ask for money to remove them. In my opinion this is a criminal act similar to gangs requesting protection money.

[G1GY]

P.S. Nick, what is AIM??:redface:

It's the AOL version of windows messanger Deb.

Here's where to get it if you want it.

http://canada.aol.com/aim/aim55/

:)