IE 6.0 Loses Cookie Information

I have been having a intermittent problem where IE requires me to enter logins and passwords for all websites where I have already saved that information. When I check the settings under Internet Options, the Current Location for Temporary Internet Files is blank and the amount of disk space to use is set at 0 MB. The slider that controls the disk space useage will not move beyond 0 MB. Also, when this occurs it takes forever to load a web page.

This problem has gotten worse over the last couple of days. I can have one instance of IE open and it will work fine, but if I open another IE window that one will have the problem. If I reboot, I am good for a while, but then the problem starts again. Any suggestions as to what may be causing this?

Thanks,
Genie

 

Hi and welcome to the forum.

What OS are you running?

 

Also some info on your drive size and how full it is.
How long since you did a disk cleanup?

Also, if this is not the proceedure you are following, try doing it this way.
Right click on the IE desktop icon and choose properties.
On general tab, change the setting to about 32MB.
Apply and close
RESTART YOUR COMPUTER NOW
Now launch IE, click file/ new window.
Close first window, in new window confirm that the tools/ internet options/ general the size is still 32MB
AGAIN RESTART COMPUTER

Now try using it and see if it took.

If you do not have these, I also suggest
Spybot search and destroy
Ad aware personal form Lavasoft
Install, update,run, check for problems , fix problems.
A Squared trojan remover
Download, install, update, scan and fix.

I presume you have an antivirus installed.
Do you have any program such as spybot set to lock the internet control panel? This too can prevent changes.

 

Thanks for the replies.

I am running XP. I have a 30 GB drive and I am only using about 9 GB. It has been a while since I did a disk cleanup. I do run Ad Aware and I have McAfee antivirus that updates automatically.

I typically access the properties from Internet Options on the Tools menu, but the next time this happens I try it from the icon. I normally have the setting at 124 MB and after I reboot it is back at 124 MB. But, when this happens the setting appears as 0 MB and the location of the files is missing and cannot be reset.

So you guys think it could be caused by spyware or a trojan? I will try Spybot and A Squared and see what happens.

Thanks,
Genie

 

Do you have a cleanup manager? A tracks eraser? It sounds as if you may have something like that which is wiping your cookies either when the browser is closed or on a schedule . It is setting size to zero and failing to reset it on reboot.

 

FWIW--Just because you have a cookie stored, does not mean that you will not be asked to enter password and username when you access a website.
However, based on what you report, you do seem to have a problem with the size or even existence of Temporary Internet Files.
Outside chance this may apply to you
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q301897
If no help, I think the first thing I would do is IE Tools|Internet Options|General tab|Delete Files. And if you do not mind losing whatever cookies you do have, click Delete Cookies as well. (Do you have a Windows\Cookies folder with cookies in it?)
Reboot. Did that help?
If still no help

Not sure I understand that. Does that mean you have no folder named C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files? Run a search for that.
Just guessing, but if that folder is really not present, you might try creating one in that location to see if that solves the problem. (I do not think TIF is a hidden folder, so that should not be the problem.)