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Why would a web site's automatic sign-in suddenly stop working?

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Summary: 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.

Related:

Article 458 | Posted October 6, 2004

Recent Comments

how do you stop automatic sign in on your computor?

Posted by: Steph at January 26, 2005 07:25 AM

Use IntelliLogin to automatic login any website for you!
Never forget any password again!
www.jjsoft-studio.com

Posted by: Hoochie at July 24, 2007 04:44 AM

I did do a complete clean up of my machine due to some corrupted files. How do I reactivate my automatio signin for my internet connection? Thanks.

Posted by: Debra Wood at October 7, 2007 04:51 PM

Yes I deleted cookies but what is the answer? You have not provided the answer. Again Please provide the answer , HOW DO I GET THE AUTO SIGN IN BACK?

Posted by: GREG at November 2, 2007 03:08 PM

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1

Sorry, thought that was kinda obvious: do what you did originally to enable the
feature. When you sign in check the box that says 'remember me' or something
similar. (The exact text varies from service to service.)

Leo

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.4.7 (MingW32)

iD8DBQFHL5GRCMEe9B/8oqERAjQhAJ9vPaDQnjNwYTE8YgkjQxnB//3oDQCfWf3l
caV7OK4TQyi1+LevXVI1nko=
=nSqh
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

Posted by: Leo A. Notenboom at November 5, 2007 01:56 PM

MY AUTO LOG IN STOPED WORKING

Posted by: FRANK KRIZ at December 4, 2007 09:06 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

Posted by: Bob Rodi at March 21, 2008 09:02 AM

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 ??

Posted by: Kristina at April 4, 2008 12:58 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??

Posted by: Larry Peterson at April 15, 2008 12:15 PM

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