Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
A web site's automatic sign-in may suddenly stop working when cookies are deleted from your machine.
I recently used pest patrol and deleted everything it came up with. I believe I deleted something that has to do with the automatic sign in for comcast and hotmail accounts. I cleared out everything in the log of pest patrol too, so I can't recover anything. QUESTION: Is there any way to get the automatic sign in to work again?
•
Some of the spyware scanners will report cookies as possible spyware, in the sense that they could potentially be used by a site to track who you are.
This is a case where those cookies are actually quite useful.
•
Most of the web sites that you visit that have an "auto login" or "remember me" checkbox are simply using a cookie that's kept on your machine that's automatically sent to them the next time you visit. The cookie does contain personally identifiable information - perhaps your actual account name and password (hopefully encrypted) or some other unique identifier that allows the site to securely know it's you and not ask you to log in again.
Delete the cookies and that information is gone. The web sites will think you're a first time visitor and ask you to log in.
The solution is to log in again (you do remember your password, right?) and make sure that the "remember me" or similar check box is checked.
This happens to me all the time. In a fit of cleanliness I'll delete all my cookies, and for the next few days I'll have to log in to a number of sites that normally I wouldn't have to.
Article C2197 - October 6, 2004 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
December 4, 2007 9:06 AM
MY AUTO LOG IN STOPED WORKING
March 21, 2008 9:02 AM
My auto sign-in stopped working and no matter how many times I sign in to a site I check the remember info and it does not work . I have to keep signing every time
April 4, 2008 12:58 PM
I am having a Major problem! I am not able to log into my account at all even though the password and username are correct. It brings me back to the log in page and clears myt username and password. It keeps doing the sam thing over and over even though the account is valid...what could be stopping me from logging in ??
April 15, 2008 12:15 PM
on my sign in,it says "administrator".i have to type in my name to get signed on.i am the administrator.I want to get signed on auto as soon as i hit the start button. i am on windowsXPSP2. how do i do this??
March 20, 2009 8:29 PM
sign in pops up in the middle of my work how can i stop this?