Will I lose good stuff if I delete all cookies

My temp internet files is full of cookies. Is it a good idea to remove them via IE>Tools>options> delete cookies-Delete files. Will I lose important stuff. What is difference between cookies and files.

jaycee

 

I do know all my passwords etc so will give it a go.
I know cookies are files but IE seems to differentiate between the two according to the options menu

jaycee

 

deleting cookies

I downloaded medical information and copied the graphics. Sometime later I deleted cookies. When I returned to my file, all the graphics were replaced with red "X." Not a major loss but an example of what could happen. Some sites advise you that if you delete cookies the item/program would not work properly after that. I regularly run an error check, defrag, delete cookies, offline content, etc. Makes the system run quicker.

 

You can delete cookies selectively from TIF (not the Cookies folder). Therefore you can keep any cookie you think may be desireable.

 

I have deleted everything in stages. OK so far. Copied a few files from TIF just in case. Still dont understand the difference between the cookie folder and TIF.

Thanks jaycee

 

Maybe the following might explain (or possibly confuse further

The cookies folder stores the actual cookies (.txt files). The TIF folder (as far as cookies is concerned) stores pointers to the cookies, which are shown with names in the form 'Cookie: your username@web address'. If you copy/paste one of those pointers to some other folder, you will see that the copied file is actually the cookie (.txt file). You will not be able to put it back into the TIF folder. If you used cut/paste from the TIF folder (which would delete the pointer from the TIF folder and the cookie from the cookies folder), you could put the copied cookie.txt file into the cookies folder, but there would be no corresponding pointer in the TIF folder.

If you want to back up your cookies, the best way is to use 'import and export' in IE File menu, follow the wizard to export cookies (you can back up your favorites in the same way). Reimporting them then puts them back into the cookies folder and generates the corresponding pointers in the TIF folder. To avoid possible duplicates, you should delete all the cookies before importing the backup.

If you delete a pointer to a cookie in your TIF folder, it automatically deletes the corresponding cookie .txt file from the cookies folder. But if you manually delete a cookie .txt file from the cookies folder it does not delete the corresponding pointer in the TIF folder. Hence the advice to look through the TIF folder if you want to manually delete some cookies.

Clicking delete TIF in IE options does not clear the cookies-related items from the TIF folder, only those items related to the sites you've visited (.gif files and the like).
Clicking delete cookies in IE options deletes all cookies and all corresponding pointers in TIF.

If you don't want to look through the TIF folder to manually delete some cookies, there are quite a few little free apps that allow you to select cookies to keep and delete the remainder (and their corresponding pointers in TIF folder). Spybot has that facility, as does CCleaner, many others.

 

Thanks for the info, I think you've explained it very well
jaycee