Topic: Browsers
Yahoo tossing your cookies?
Since Yahoo changed the log in interface for Groups last December, I'm hearing more about problems with cookies, people trying to log in and Yahoo keeps showing "guest" or they log in and are working along in groups and suddenly Yahoo shows them as "guest" and they can't access anything.
Sometimes this is a temporary problem and limited to a particular browser, sometimes it's a problem with a corrupted cookie on the user's computer, sometimes it's just a Yahoo thing.
For the first case, always try a different browser. Using IE? Try Netscape or Opera or vice versa. IE, Netscape and Opera are free, you can download them here:
- Internet Explorer
- Netscape
- Netscape's Product Archive for earlier versions
- Mozilla, standards compliant, includes popup and ad blocking (this is the engine that Netscape runs on), available for most operating systems, Windows, Mac, Linux, OS/2
- Opera, smaller and lighter than IE or Netscape
- iCab, Mac only
- Konqueror, Linux KDE Desktop
- Galeon, Linux GNOME Desktop
All of these browsers are available for both Windows and Mac (unless noted otherwise) and some are available for other platforms like Linux, plus you can do a search on Google for browsers for other operating systems.
For the second case, try deleting all your cookies.
- For IE 4+, you can click on Tools > Internet Options and then click on the Delete Cookies button. IE also stores cookies in a folder called Cookies in the Windows folder, if going thru the Internet Options menu doesn't work, try deleting all the cookies in the Cookies folder.
- For Netscape 6+, click on Edit > Preferences, expand the Privacy option, then click on Cookies, then click on View Stored Cookies and there's a Remove All Cookies button.
- For Netscape 4, I don't have exact instructions but it's similar to Netscape 6+
- For Opera, click on File > Preferences, then click on the Privacy option and check the box for Throw Away Cookies on Exit, then close the browser. For all browsers, it may also help to reboot your computer.
- For other browsers, try poking around in Options or Preferences for a way to delete or locate the cookies.
For the third case, just a Yahoo thing, well, not much to be done there except wait and see, wait an hour and try again, wait till later in the day or night, wait till the next day...
Last updated on December 25, 2003 08:49 PM