No Cookies? Or are there?

[Bill Martin]

I have a new Toshiba laptop with XP-Home and I'm having some trouble. The
short version is that if I go to some web page like the New York Times (NYT)
which wants to store a login cookie on my computer, the login aborts with an
error statement from the web site saying that I first have to enable cookies
for it to work. Sounds simple.

Before I get to what I've done, let me mention that this also prevents the
Microsoft Windows Update service from running properly to completion. It
also does strange things like the Norton registration program fails and says
my internet connection is bad, but then the Norton virus update runs happily
through that same connection. Lots of other sites which demand cookies fail.

My first assumption was that my IE was somehow incorrectly configured out of
the box. I played with all the various "Internet Options" settings and did
the obvious things to no avail. Hmmm... Then I went in and manually copied
over every single "Internet Options" setting from my older XP machine which
works onto the new machine. No help. Hmmm... Finally in passing I noticed
that if I look at View/PrivacyReport while sitting at the failed NYT login
page, it says that it has indeed accepted and written cookies from the NYT
even though the NYT reports that it hasn't.

Ok, my next assumption was that the XP firewall was turned on or
misconfigured or some such. As far as I can tell it is off -- the box is not
checked at least. My systems run through a Wi-Fi hub and that has a
firewall, but that one is protecting all my machines and only the new one has
problems.

Normal html web pages seem to load and display with no problems. I can click
a link and download data into the machine. The only problem seems to be that
some/all web sites seem to think they're not writing cookies or are not able
to read them back again or something.

Does this sound familiar to anyone?

--------------------

RESET!!

I found my solution, but it's so esoteric that I thought I'd go ahead and
post it out here in case it helps anyone else. It turns out that my computer
arrived with the date/time set incorrectly -- to the year 2010 in fact.
Apparently it would accept cookies, and then immediately judge them to be
outdated and flush them. Setting the date and time correctly fixed the
Internet Explorer problem.

Now on to the next problem....

Bill

[Milt]

My first thought is that in Internet Explorer/Internet Options/Privacy you
have the setting too high. If not, have you looked at the "Advanced" button
there to make sure that the computer isn't set to override the settings for
your security level?

Hope this helps,
Milt


"Bill Martin" > wrote in message
om...
> I have a new Toshiba laptop with XP-Home and I'm having some trouble. The
> short version is that if I go to some web page like the New York Times
(NYT)
> which wants to store a login cookie on my computer, the login aborts with
an
> error statement from the web site saying that I first have to enable
cookies
> for it to work. Sounds simple.
>
> Before I get to what I've done, let me mention that this also prevents the
> Microsoft Windows Update service from running properly to completion. It
> also does strange things like the Norton registration program fails and
says
> my internet connection is bad, but then the Norton virus update runs
happily
> through that same connection. Lots of other sites which demand cookies
fail.
>
> My first assumption was that my IE was somehow incorrectly configured out
of
> the box. I played with all the various "Internet Options" settings and
did
> the obvious things to no avail. Hmmm... Then I went in and manually
copied
> over every single "Internet Options" setting from my older XP machine
which
> works onto the new machine. No help. Hmmm... Finally in passing I
noticed
> that if I look at View/PrivacyReport while sitting at the failed NYT login
> page, it says that it has indeed accepted and written cookies from the NYT
> even though the NYT reports that it hasn't.
>
> Ok, my next assumption was that the XP firewall was turned on or
> misconfigured or some such. As far as I can tell it is off -- the box is
not
> checked at least. My systems run through a Wi-Fi hub and that has a
> firewall, but that one is protecting all my machines and only the new one
has
> problems.
>
> Normal html web pages seem to load and display with no problems. I can
click
> a link and download data into the machine. The only problem seems to be
that
> some/all web sites seem to think they're not writing cookies or are not
able
> to read them back again or something.
>
> Does this sound familiar to anyone?
>
> --------------------
>
> RESET!!
>
> I found my solution, but it's so esoteric that I thought I'd go ahead and
> post it out here in case it helps anyone else. It turns out that my
computer
> arrived with the date/time set incorrectly -- to the year 2010 in fact.
> Apparently it would accept cookies, and then immediately judge them to be
> outdated and flush them. Setting the date and time correctly fixed the
> Internet Explorer problem.
>
> Now on to the next problem....
>
> Bill

[Milt]

Also, you can go to C:/Documents and Settings/"Your Name"/Cookies and see if
cookies are there.

Milt again.


"Bill Martin" > wrote in message
om...
> I have a new Toshiba laptop with XP-Home and I'm having some trouble. The
> short version is that if I go to some web page like the New York Times
(NYT)
> which wants to store a login cookie on my computer, the login aborts with
an
> error statement from the web site saying that I first have to enable
cookies
> for it to work. Sounds simple.
>
> Before I get to what I've done, let me mention that this also prevents the
> Microsoft Windows Update service from running properly to completion. It
> also does strange things like the Norton registration program fails and
says
> my internet connection is bad, but then the Norton virus update runs
happily
> through that same connection. Lots of other sites which demand cookies
fail.
>
> My first assumption was that my IE was somehow incorrectly configured out
of
> the box. I played with all the various "Internet Options" settings and
did
> the obvious things to no avail. Hmmm... Then I went in and manually
copied
> over every single "Internet Options" setting from my older XP machine
which
> works onto the new machine. No help. Hmmm... Finally in passing I
noticed
> that if I look at View/PrivacyReport while sitting at the failed NYT login
> page, it says that it has indeed accepted and written cookies from the NYT
> even though the NYT reports that it hasn't.
>
> Ok, my next assumption was that the XP firewall was turned on or
> misconfigured or some such. As far as I can tell it is off -- the box is
not
> checked at least. My systems run through a Wi-Fi hub and that has a
> firewall, but that one is protecting all my machines and only the new one
has
> problems.
>
> Normal html web pages seem to load and display with no problems. I can
click
> a link and download data into the machine. The only problem seems to be
that
> some/all web sites seem to think they're not writing cookies or are not
able
> to read them back again or something.
>
> Does this sound familiar to anyone?
>
> --------------------
>
> RESET!!
>
> I found my solution, but it's so esoteric that I thought I'd go ahead and
> post it out here in case it helps anyone else. It turns out that my
computer
> arrived with the date/time set incorrectly -- to the year 2010 in fact.
> Apparently it would accept cookies, and then immediately judge them to be
> outdated and flush them. Setting the date and time correctly fixed the
> Internet Explorer problem.
>
> Now on to the next problem....
>
> Bill

[Bill Martin]

Thanks for the suggestions Milt, but I found my problem was the clock was set
wrong. The new computer came out of the box set to the year 2010 which
apparently made it accept cookies, and then immediately judge them to be
outdated and flush them. Setting the date and time correctly fixed the
Internet Explorer problem.

Now on to the next problem....

Bill