Delete cookies?

Win98 1st Edition. I'm confused. I use Ad-aware and delete the objects, mostly tracking cookies. Then I check my temporary Internet files and cookies and find a whole bunch there. Should I get rid of them, too? Will I lose the personalized web pages I've set up? Thanks.

 

Ad aware doesn't necessarily delete ALL your cookies. Just the cookies it recognizes as "spyware" affiliated. The rest of the cookies SHOULD be ok to keep. IF you do delete them and the sites you go to use cookies for personalized settings, then you increase the possibility of losing some of those settings. It's entirely up to you.

 

Right, Kodo. Thanks. I assume that those cookies are not taking up much room or affecting the speed of operations, correct?

 

Ah, but here's a major (!) point: almost all of the cookie-managing programs locate and delete cookies from your Cookies folder, not your Temporary Internet Files.

The TIFs folder is the master folder for Internet leftovers, the IE cache. If you delete cookies from the Cookies folder only, they're still there in the TIFs. But if you delete the cookies in your TIFs folder, they'll disappear from your Cookies folder, too.

Most of us have cookies we want to keep, like the Major Geeks ID cookies, so you don't want to delete all of your IE cookies anyway, unless you don't want to use IE to access your favorite password-protected sites. What you want to do is this:

Internet Options>Advanced panel>check "Empty TIFs folder when browser is closed." When you close IE down, that will leave only the cookies in your TIFs folder (well, usually). Now drill down to your Docs & Setts, User, Local Setts, TIFs folder and look at the contents (in Details view, of course!). It's usually obvious which sites' cookies you want to keep, and which sites' cookies you wnat to delete, and when you select the ones you want to delete and hit the delete key, you answer Yes to "Do you want to delete the selected cookies?"

It's really easy to set up a shortcut that will open and display your TIFs folder with a single click from anywhere. Use the standard "C:\Windows\explorer.exe /n,/e,C:\Documents and Settings\User\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files" shortcut and you've got it. Change the details to suit your folders, of course.

Once you have the switch set to delete your non-cookie files every time you leave IE , and you have one-click access to TIFs to edit that folder's cookie collection, you have it made.

Remember that there is a tracking file called index.dat that just grows and grows, and you can only get rid of that by deleting it occasionally during a boot, before Windows locks it. But that's another question and another answer.

 

In addition to what Wisewiz says......

If you use the synchronization feature for working [make available] offline or to see what site's web page has changed, those files will remain even with the Empty TIF folder setting enabled. I've noticed this all the time with IE from version 5 and up (didn't use version 4 or below so I don't know for certain about these versions). This probably wouldn't apply if another browser is used - they would/may have their own locaton for storing TIF/history data like Netscape.

Another way to look at the TIF folder is through Internet Options/General - TIF section/Settings/View Files. Having a shortcut is niftier since it's a click or two away

 

Frybo, Nick's recommendation is sound if you actually want another program that does what you asked about (handle cookies) and does a LOT more. My point above, though, lest you lose sight of it in the flow of messages here, was that you don't need anything else on your machine to control the User\...\Cookies folder and the User\...\Temp Internet Files folder. A simple one-time setting of the IE switch and a simple one-click shortcut to the TIFs folder will give you complete control over the IE cache and cookies.

The index.dat file is another minor irritation from the software giant you love to hate, but that's another question and answer.

 

Need Help

ok i deleted my cookies folder the other day tryin to clean up my machine, now i can't view my clan web site
i have XP so i tried a system restore, no luck.
This is really startin to pee me off, is there anything i can do to fix this? The funny thing is it's the only web site i cant view? And i know the web site is still up because i viewed it on my bro's machine.
Any help would be great

 

try logging itno their saite

 

lmao dude
i try visiting there site at least 5 times a day and all i get is that stupid (This page cannot be displayed) message

 

I'm with you, man. In a similar fashion, when I try to log into My Netscape, I'll get the Page cannot be displayed message as well. It worked fine about two weeks ago, but then all of a sudden, I can't get in. This also happened with me a few months ago when trying to get into WebAttack.com - couldn't go in for at least 3 months. Then one time I tried it worked - it's still fluky when going into their Freeware What's New page.

I tried deleting the index.dat file, emptying TIF and removing any associated cookies, temporarily turning off Privacy Settings just to get cleaned before trying it again just for that site only and still couldn't get in. I tried a Host file with and without site info and wouldn't work. Sometimes I wonder if there is a DNS server somewhere out there that's in the loop that's not up to snuff.

 

I'm with Ken on this guess that it could be a DNS down the road from you that's screwing you up. Might try this: Close your browsers and rename your hosts file (hunt for it!) to Oldhosts, then start a browser and type in the name of the target site (i.e., don't use a boookmark/fave that's already in your menus). If you hit the site this time, save the bookmark/fave and delete the old bookmark/fave for that site. Then log in the usual long way and let the site put its cookie back in your browser's files. Repeat for each browser you've got.

All this does is make your browser actually go into a new DNS search for the site you're trying to get, instead of using its old records (which may include a broken link in the route from your machine to the site).

Don't worry about the Oldhosts file. There'll be a new hosts file soon.

 

Please be patient with a slow-learner.
Wisewiz wrote: Go to Internet Options>Advanced panel>check "Empty TIFs folder when browser is closed." When you close IE down, that will leave only the cookies in your TIFs folder (well, usually). Now drill down to your Docs & Setts, User, Local Setts, TIFs folder and look at the contents (in Details view, of course!).
1. The first advice won't cause me to lose cookies I want for personalized pages, passwords, etc., will it?
2. I don't know how to "drill down to your Docs & Setts, User, Local Setts, TIFs folder and look at the contents (in Details view, of course!)." I do know how to view the TIF cookies by going Tools, TIFs, Settings and View Files.
3. When I View Files, I right-click a cookie trying to learn what it's all about. If I see something like this--Last Modified 01/03/2003--I assume that means that's the last time I used that cookie and apparently I don't use it much. Is that right?

 

Hi, frybo,
1. No. That setting only makes IE dump the cache files of URLs and images and such. It ignores cookies.
2. You open My Computer, C: drive, Click the plus-sign beside Documents and Settings, repeat at your username, repeat at Local Settings, and click Temporary Internet Files. Everything that's in your cache is there. The "Details view" part means get rid of the display of the silly icons, so that you can get some real information from the Explorer window display. Click View, up at the top in the Menu bar, then click Details.
3. When you see the cookies in View Files, they're in the TIFs folder I just (above) told you how to view. When you see those cookies, the next thing after the @ sign in the name of the cookie file is the address of the site that set the cookie. If that's a site you have to log in to, and you want to log in without typing your p/w and name, leave the cookie; otherwise, you can delete cookies, but if you use the Delete Cookies button, it wipes ALL of your cookies. So use the instructions above and look at the individual cookies and decide which ones you want, and delete the rest.

I set up a shortcut that gives me one-click access to the TIFs folder, so that when I close IE (I only use it for Windows Updates and MS sites that demand IE), and it deletes the other files automatically, all I see are the cookies, and I can delete the trackers and save the login cookies fast.

 

Now that's what I call a fast response! I'm going to follow your instructions, Wisewiz.
Now, I noticed this phrase from you: " ... so that when I close IE (I only use it for Windows Updates and MS sites that demand IE) ..." Which means, I guess, that you have more than one brower on your system. I'd like to try one of the others I've seen mentioned on the board. I was scared to do it for fear of screwing up IE. No worry, huh?

 

This tech stuff is so over my head. Being an artist...I'm right brain functioning. I need to find a free AVG download. Also, need help to find out if another BO has been installed on my PC. My settings seem to want a life of their own. Can anyone help me out in a language I can understand. Please and thank you.

 

fry-man, I've got three browsers on one drive, and lots of people have more. If you work on Web layouts, ya gotta be able to see yer work in more than MS Insufferable Exploiter.

But when it comes to actual USE of a browser for browsing, like this exercise of sharing a tiny bit of expertise with you on this forum, I use my Firebird 0.6 exclusively. I can make it mine in a thousand ways, and it does what I want it to do and only that. Neat.

Anyhoo, not to worry about having more than one browser. And who knows? Mebbe you'll find that you like an alternative to IE better.

But don't discard IE. Many MS pages insist on it.

 

Petra,

Welcome to the Major Geeks forums! The software pages onthis site are awesome, and have everything you need.
Click this link and use the list on the left under "Files." When you click Anti-Virus, scroll down the page of results that comes up, and look at the gold line under the program's name. If you see "Freeware" there, you have a winner. Same for Spyware Tools.

You want an anti-virus program and a spyware program. Let us know what you find and whether you need any advice.

 

Don't forget the ability to import cookies! If you're afraid to delete specific cookies (or all of them) make a copy of them and put them in a different location... doesn't really matter where. Then, at anytime... you can import them from the import / export option from the top menu bar under File. This will allow you to import a specific cookie that you might need.