Deleting cookies in IE7

[kef999]

In Internet Explorer 7, working under WinXP, is it possible to view, identify and selectively delete cookies for one particular website?

I see that in the Browsing History section of the General tab in Internet Options, that it's possible to delete Internet temporary files, cookies, etc. There's a button there labelled "Delete ....", but I'm loath to just click on that, as I'm not sure whether it'll delete literally all my cookies on my machine (I run a dual-boot PC) or instead will open up a further set of options. Without really knowing, I don't want to take the chance, as I've cookies set at dozens of websites and it'd take me for ever to reinstate them if they all got deleted.

The reason I'm asking about this is because I've recently encountered a signing in problem at a popular website where DIY goods can be purchased, whereby the website accepts my username and password initially but if I then sign out and try to sign back in again, it rejects me. After some days of trying to get the webmaster of the site to run some simple tests and after working on the problem at length myself, I've discovered that the problem doesn't occur if IE6, under Win2K, is used. But as soon as I change to using IE7 with WinXP, the problem's there. The signing in operation at the website is quite different in IE7 and it looks like there's some sort of compatibility issue of IE7 with the website software. The webmaster maintains that she cannot replicate the problem and has suggested that perhaps something to try would be me deleting the cookies on my machine that are associated with the website.

Can the latter be done 100% successfully, though? Surely, I'm not likely to be able to identify all the cookie entries for that website on my IE7? And wouldn't there be some entries in Windows Registry as well?

I feel that the webmaster of that website really can't cope with a bug of this kind and has now merely put the onus on me instead to try to fix the problem at my end. I'm personally convinced that the problem lies with the website's software being incompatible with IE7.

[Paul S]

Your cookies are contained here: C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Cookies.

Hope this helps...

[kef999]

Paul, I'm afraid that, in WinXP Home/IE7, there is no such path. In Docs & Settings, I've searched folders under both my own name, administrator, and All Users. However, since first posting, I've discovered that if I go into Internet Options, to the Settings button which is beside that Delete button I mentioned, you can then view not only all the cookies but also all the temporary Internet files. There, it appears that you can delete individual cookies, though I've not tried it yet. This location is C:\Docs & Settings\<username>\Local Settings\Temp Internet Files. You don't see these files, though, if you try to use Windows Explorer to view them.

[Paul S]

Hi,

That path does exist and that's where your cookies are contained. Try Start > Run and then typing cookies. When you press return a folder will open, this is C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Cookies.

[kef999]

You're dead right, old bean. Thanks for insisting and putting me right.

The reason I couldn't see the cookies folder with Windows Explorer was that, in Folder Options/View tab, "Hide protected OS files" was set. I did, in any event, try what you suggested and got the cookies displayed using the Run command.

It would appear that cookies consist simply of .txt files, exclusively in that location. To get rid of a particular cookie, therefore, can I just delete the file from that location?

[Paul S]

Hello,

Yes, deleting the persistent cookie from that location will allow a 'vanilla' visit to the website next time you visit it.

[kef999]

Are you certain that that would really do the trick and that there's not a Windows Registry entry associated with the file that'd also need to be deleted? I've been doing some searches on the Web for other instances of cookie deletions, including in the Microsoft IE7 newsproups, and there's divided opinion as to whether deleting individual cookies by just going to that folder is the right thing to do. One person claimed that deleting an individual cookie caused his IE7 to slow right down. Although Microsoft themselves publish a KB-type article on how to delete ALL cookies, they don't publish anything on how to delete INDIVIDUAL cookies. As a result, I'm left with the feeling that deleting individual cookies (without screwing up the browser) isn't perhaps as straightforward as it seems.

[Paul S]

What have you read or been told that has put you under the impression there would be a Windows Registry entry associated with a persistent browser cookie?

I deleted the cookie generated by this website. Next time I visited the site I was no longer logged in and the browser had not slowed in anyway that was noticable. Further to this, I created a web app that would generate a cookie and store the colour of my choice from the colour palette and set this as the page background on each visit. Each visit displayed the colour I had chosed but when I deleted the cookie the browser rendered the page using default settings and not the colour I had chosen. From this I can conclude the deletion of the persistent browser cookie had removed my 'preferences' and the next visit was 'vanilla'.

I don't believe that deleting a cookie would slow the performance of the web browser - unless I saw evidence of this of course.

If I were you, I would delete the cookie and attempt using the DIY website again and see if this has resolved the issue - but it is your choice.

Out of interest, what is the name of the DIY website? I am curious why the application developer would have changed the sign-in procedure depending upon whether IE6 or 7 is being used. I can understand rendering issues but not server-side code issues.

[kef999]

The theory, by some others on the Web (sorry, can't locate them again now) is that the IE cookies are merely pointers and that therefore more than one location exists for them. And that's why IE then spends time searching for the cookie which has been deleted. Could be absolute tosh, though, I agree.

Yes, I found that the sign-in procedure was different for IE6/Firefox and IE7. However, I got the feeling that this was because of something else being not right in the first place. The website was screwfix.com and I've pointed out to them this difference with IE7 but they've not commented on it.

I think that something that's probably complicating the issue is that I'm using a dualboot system on my PC (WinXP and Win2K). Furthermore, in the 2K partition, I'm using IE6 and Firefox. So, if you think about how a username and password might be first registered by the website in each of these browsers and how the website code might react to that, especially when I'm trying to sign in again later (sometimes from a different browser), I think you'll begin to see the problem. In all the years I've been using the Web, though, I've never noticed this with any other websites.

Actually, you might be interested in this:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932044/en-us

which I found earlier today and which concerns cookies and IE7.

Checking, I've found that wininet.dll resides in many locations on my WinXP/IE7 partition and I've looked to see if v7.0.6000.20583 exists. The answer is no, but two more-up-to-date versions are there. Update KB932044 is there.

I might add that I've now asked the webmaster of that site to delete my details from their server. I've told them that I'd now rather purchase from them via alternative means. However, I do still wish to delete their cookies from my machine, if it's possible to do that cleanly.

[Paul S]

I have never written a web application that uses different sign-in procedures for different browsers - that is not logical. It would increase processing overheads needlessly.

Your dual boot system would have nothing to do with it. The two operating systems are not aware of each other.

Someone writing a web application would not limit its use to the browser you originally signed up with. That is not logical - the idea is to develop a application with cross-browser support. Most incompatibilities are down to rendering and client-side script.

If you are really concerned about some catastrophic system failure resulting from deleting the cookie: take a backup beforehand.

Deleting a cookie does not slow the system down, does not cause harm and has nothing to do with the Windows Registry.