Odd Firefox 11 problem

[Rik]

It's suddenly started clearing cookies on shutdown, despite the fact it's set not to. I've tried using custom settings for history, but this doesn't seem to 'stick'. Googling reveals lots of people who can't get it to delete cookies, but little on my problem other than from v3.x.

It started yesterday, but nothing on the machine was changed that I am aware of.

Any ideas?

[Glenn]

Delete and re-install?

[cavillas]

 Delete entirely and use another browser.

[Rik]

But I like FF, Alf.

[Rik]

Delete and re-install?

That's what I was beginning to think.

[Simon]

It's on 11 now?   

The only thing I can suggest, is turn the setting off, close Firefox, reboot (might not be necessary, but never hurts), restart Firefox, turn the setting on again, close Firefox, restart Firefox and see if that makes it stick.  Have you got a backup of your cookies?   

[Rik]

Done all that, and yes.

[Glenn]

Is this on your pc or iPad (assuming it's available for the iPad)?

[Rik]

Main desktop, Glenn, it's not available on the iPad.

[Simon]

Have you looked in the Profile folder to see if the cookie file is still 'full'?  If not, try replacing it with a backup copy (with Firefox closed).  Maybe it's somehow wiped them, and now, there are none to be saved?

[Rik]

I use cookie culler to protect cookies I want kept. They are still there. Switching to the netbook, it is retaining all cookies until I manually delete them - which is how things should be. Both have the same privacy settings. If I get FF itself to reveal the cookies that are stored, protected ones remain after an exit, others are only kept for the session. 

[Baz]

dont suppose they have expired naturally 

thats what my default FF settings are in the drop down list

[Rik]

No, Baz, I checked for dates. It's not that big an issue as I protect the cookies I need, but I hate odd changes in behaviour which I can't explain.

[Baz]

anything on here Rik

http://ask.metafilter.com/198836/Why-did-Firefox-start-losing-my-login-cookies

theres mention of CCleaner ive seen on other sites too or may be anti virus or malware programs causing it, but on this link about ¾ of way down is a post starting 'Solution: DO NOT clear site preferences...'   which is in Tools/Options/Privacy/Clear history when firefox closes...the Settings box next to it then in the  Data section.

[Rik]

Thanks Baz, I'll check the site preferences setting when I'm back on the desktop.

[Rik]

It's not checked.

[Glenn]

Check it and save the change, then go back in and uncheck it, saving the change.

[Rik]

Check.

[Rik]

There's no option to save it. Checked it, exited, went back in an it was unchecked again. Other settings have been remembered.

[zappaDPJ]

I've found the latest version of FF to be quite unstable on all the PCs and laptops I have here but I've not encountered that issue. At least I don't think I have.

[Rik]

It started for me yesterday, Zap, but is only affecting one machine. Re-installation seems to be the only thing left to try.

[pctech]

Might be worth copying your cookie file elsewhere and uninstalling and reinstall firefox Rik.

Not had that problem myself but had some weird FF behaviour a few months back and a reinstall fixed it.

[Niall]

What I do on a fresh install is install all add ons I use, put in passwords, etc, then set it to private browsing. That way it keeps my passwords and doesn't keep cookies at all. I feel much safer knowing I hold no cookies in my browser.

[pctech]

Provided you purge them regularly cookies are not a problem, I really don't understand at all why people get so worked up about them.

[Niall]

The only reason I block them is on an old counterstrike clans website, their stats always showed where you've come from and I prefer no one to know what I do, even though I'll be coming from the BBC homepage as that's my homepage in firefox

[Baz]

just stumbled across this by chance Rik

in Flash Player Settings Manager/Advanced tab/Browsing Data and Settings section then the Delete All button is a tick box for Delete all site data and settings.


I know its flash player but might that be it 

[Rik]

Thanks, Baz.

[kinmel]

Rik

Is the box at the bottom of Cookie Culler's options page had the "tick" flipped from your own preference ?

[Rik]

No, it's still unchecked, Alan.

[Steve]

By shutdown do you mean PC shutdown? If so is any firewall software doing abit of tidying up.

[Rik]

No, just Firefox shutdown, Steve.

[armadillo]

Rik, you could go into your Firefox profiles folder and try renaming any .sqlite file with cookies in its name to something else. e.g. as .sqlite.old

Then Firefox will have to create a new one.

If it does not work, you can remove the .old from your original cookie sqlites.

This is assuming Firefox 11 uses sqlite files. I am still on Firefox 3.6!

[Rik]

Thanks, Dill. It appears to have changed format. 

[armadillo]

Odd how changes to format always make things more difficult, never easier. Remember the days when you could do your own car maintenance?

[Rik]

Indeed I do. I wish software designers would plan ahead and stop moving the goal posts.

[kinmel]

check your firefox setting     "about:config"  it should contain an entry............  privacy.clearOnShutdown.cookies;false        Userset        Boolean       False

[Rik]

That's how it's set, Alan. Thanks.

[Simon]

How do you know it's clearing the cookies, and not blocking them in the first place?

[Rik]

Because they can be seen before shutdown.

[Simon]

OK.    then. 

[Rik]

Exactly... 

[Simon]

They have so many updates, sooner or later, something was bound to get broken. 

[Rik]

Yup.

[Gary]

From reading online a few people seem to be having problems with cookie culler, it seems 'cookie monster' does not have so many issues.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-monster/ maybe this would help.

[zappaDPJ]

It seems like your persistent cookies are being treated in the same manner a session cookies but I can't really see why that would happen unless you are using private browsing.

[EDIT] Or what Gary said. It may well be an add-on issue.

[Rik]

From reading online a few people seem to be having problems with cookie culler, it seems 'cookie monster' does not have so many issues.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/cookie-monster/ maybe this would help.

Thanks, Gary, I'll take a look. Cookie Culler is protecting the important stuff still, so I'm not sure it's that causing the problem, but there's one way to find out.

[Rik]

It seems like your persistent cookies are being treated in the same manner a session cookies but I can't really see why that would happen unless you are using private browsing.

[EDIT] Or what Gary said. It may well be an add-on issue.

Cookie Culler is still protecting those cookies I've marked, Zap, and has no menu options, so unless it's gone rogue, it shouldn't delete anything unless I do it manually. The Firefox settings are correct too, so this is getting to be one of those "I can't explain it" issues. I'll try the Monster, if that doesn't work, it looks like the only thing left is a re-install.

Curiously, I can't work out what triggered it, and other machines are not affected, so it has to be something on this box.

[Gary]

They have so many updates, sooner or later, something was bound to get broken. 

Chrome has many updates and most of the Mozilla ones are just security and tweaks so its still pretty much as it was before, just with new numbering instead of point updates. Mozilla recently whiletlisted many apps as working with all the new versions by default now so their should be less problems. I think though the interoperability of add ons gets to be an issue though.

[Rik]

 

Something had changed the CookieCuller 'delete all cookies on startup' in the Add-ons, options menu. I hadn't thought to look there. Sorry everyone.

[zappaDPJ]

Ah well, it could have been worse. At least you didn't find your slippers in the fridge

[Rik]

Yet...

[Simon]

That's because they're in the oven, Zap. 

[zappaDPJ]