Why is this?

[Branjor]

I deleted my cookies, temporary internet files and history of webpages visited but I am still logged onto DU.

Can anyone enlighten me on why this might be? Thanks.

[RC]

1. Did you do this while still logged on to DU?

[bemildred]

2. Clever. The only explanation. nt

[Branjor]

3. I was not on the website at the time....

but when I logged in originally I did check the box saying "remain logged in on this computer when you return later". Maybe that is the explanation. The strange thing is that I always checked that box but did not remain logged in after deleting everything when I still had Windows ME. Maybe it is a difference between ME and XP (?).

[RoyGBiv]

4. Question ...

Are you sure the cookie was gone? IOW, did you actually look and see that no cookies remained? Also, what browser is this, and what method did you use to delete the cookies? (I feel like Cookie Monster's arch-nemesis, plotting against him here. :-))

When you log-in to DU, it sets a cookie that expires when you close your browser. If you check "remain logged in" it sets a different, non-expiring cookie that will remain until you delete it. As an experiment, using Firefox, I manually deleted both cookies while my browser had a DU page displayed after having browsed the site a bit. After deleting this cookie, I clicked on My Posts, and the system informed me I could not use that feature unless I was logged in. IOW, deleting the cookie logged me out.

I infer from this that whatever method you used to delete your cookies didn't actually delete all of them. Perhaps it skipped "non-expiring" cookies.

[Branjor]

5. I looked into the cookies folder....

(Had to search for it. It is not in exactly the same location in Windows XP as it is in ME) and discovered that I still had LOTS of cookies! That surprised me as I had gone into settings, web options and internet explorer options and clicked on the delete cookies button. However a lot of cookies remained undeleted, why I do not know. So I deleted them directly out of the cookies folder then returned to DU and discovered that I was NOT logged in. So I guess that was the reason...

The browser I am using is AOL :eyes: I clicked on the settings in AOL to do the original cookie deletion which did not work. I wonder if it is just another AOL glitch (?)

Thanks for the help!

[RoyGBiv]

6. Glitch ...

It's probably one of those "glitches" that are considered "features" by certain people, one of those things that is supposedly intended to prevent "accidental" deletion of "important" system settings. It's a bit like some of the default settings in Windoze or the theory behind the trash bin.

Back when I was using Netscape, one of the things that made me start looking for an alternative was the way it handled cookies. I could tell it to delete cookies all day long, and it never would delete "permanent" cookies. I always had to open the folder where they were kept and delete them manually. It was irritating to say the least.

Anyway, that experience is what made me think of it. Glad it helped.

You might try installing CCleaner. It will delete of a lot of things that certain applications try to prevent you from getting rid of. Just be careful of fixing registry issues with this program unless you know what the issue is. It can get rid of things that you don't want it to mess with.