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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 01:53 AM

Why does my computer continue to store cookies I've deleted, and from sites I haven't revisited?

Safari preferences are set to only allow cookies from sites I visit. I removed all cookies. Cleared the cache. Emptied the trash. Restarted the computer. Only visited 3 websites after restarting, but there approx a hundred cookies listed again and the same ones I just deleted.
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alfy alfy
 
 February 02, 2009 04:40 AM
A virus would not make your cookies appear and pazaq is right, visiting just one site can get you multiple cookies from all other sites with linked contents, so unless you have deleted hundreds of cookies and they all reappeared by visiting just 3 websites i would not worry.

If you really did delete hundreds and they came back like you describe, i would still not think about a virus because i have never heard of such behavior, in that case i would ask if you did any system restore...
Source(s):
personal experience



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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 05:58 AM
The thing is I did delete over a hundred cookies and after I restarted I only went to the New York Times and facebook and a private forum. Before doing any browsing at those sites, I looked to see what cookies were listed and all the cookies I had deleted were listed, over a hundred, and I don't recognize most of the names.

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 05:59 AM
Also, I have my preferences set to only allow cookies from sites I navigate to.
And, I just deleted them again. I only have mahalo and the nytimes and tweetdeck running, but when I looked at the stored cookies 1 min later they were all listed again, including ones from sites I haven't revisited like imageshack.
The other odd thing that's happening with my cookies is that I won't stay logged in at most sites like facebook or mahalo, and that's before one of the many times I've "redeleted" cookies. I'll sign in and check the auto sign in box to allow a cookie, get signed in, look at the home page, click a link, and then be instructed to resign in again even though I chose automatic sign in.

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alfy alfy
 
February 02, 2009 09:44 AM
Try this: remove all the cookie, restart your pc then open the cookie folder and keep it visible, let me know if you see cookies at this time, then open your browser and go somewhere like www.google.com, tell me if you see the cookies again.

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 09:32 PM
I'm doing as you suggested alfy. So far no funny business. Although I the problem of not staying logged into sites that I check to auto login to and accept the cookies for is still happening. When replying to this for example, I logged in when first arriving at mahalo, navigated here, clicked to reply, typed in my comment, and then was prompted to relogin again. annoying.

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 09:34 PM
And, I haven't done a system restore yet but I'm considering it. I did have apple replace the motherboard in my computer, but that was 2 months ago and this problem is more recent as far as I'm aware.

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alfy alfy
 
February 03, 2009 02:32 AM
Once you get back the cookies you agree to keep, those sites should not ask you for authentication again.

So if I am understanding this correctly, now you don't see those funny cookies appearing anymore?

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 03, 2009 04:41 AM
Nope I'm not having that problem anymore with the extra cookies and reappearing "deleted" cookies. However I am continuously asked for reauthentication from a few sites. I've checked those sites and cookies for them are listed, I'm checking the box to keep me logged in, but I have to relog every 30-90 seconds on some, but not all, sites. It's making it impossible to use those sites, like facebook. I appreciate your continued replies to this. Why am I not staying logged in for more than a minute or so at some sites? This is so annoying and something I've never experienced. I can't ask for help at my nerd forum because I can't stay logged in there either!

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 03, 2009 04:42 AM
I haven't had any problems remaining logged in to twitter or the new york times though. I had some problems staying logged in here at mahalo hours ago but I've been able to submit these two replies without a headache.

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Other Answers (2)

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pazaq pazaq
 
February 02, 2009 03:08 AM
Well a lot of those cookies are from advertisement sites. Just because you go to www.yahoo.com doesn't mean all the ad's are from them. So any site advertising on there can put a cookie on your system. It's very likely to be one of those your seeing.

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naderalmal... naderalmal...
 
February 02, 2009 03:50 AM
If you deleted the cookies, then restarted and they appeared again; you definitely have a virus or many in your computer. Download AVG Free Edition and perform a complete full scan to your PC.
Goodluck

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 02, 2009 09:11 PM
I'd never download something from the internet to solve a malware/virus problem. That's like rehydrating after a bout of diarrhea by drinking toilet water at Denny's. But, I'm afraid you may be on to something.

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alissanne alissanne
 
February 07, 2009 09:56 AM
Apparently this is a known issue safari has been having lately. No report of Apple addressing the issue yet.

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