Cookies Problem

[BobH]

I'm beginning to think that I have stepped into the Twilight Zone and expect to see Rod Serling any minute.

For some strange reason Amazon.com thinks that I have cookies turned off. Here are screenshots of the Amazon message . . .

amazon message.png

I have screenshots of the Firefox settings but Eileen's is telling me the file is too big even though I use Roboresizer.

Cue Twilight Zone music . . . .

[HansV]

The maximum size for attachments is 256 KB; that should be sufficient for screenshots of most windows (but not the entire screen).
Have you tried it in Internet Explorer or in Google Chrome, if only for comparison purposes?

[BobH]

I am definitely in the Twilight Zone!

Robosizer has always taken care of resizing for me here at Eileen's Lounge and elsewhere on the net. I don't know what is happening. I have started using PicPick recently to make screenshots and I notice that it is saving them as .png files. I think I'll try FastCapture and see if I get the same results.

I don't know when I posted the last ss before the Amazon message. Will have to investigate and see if I can determine if the problem started with picpick. With both the cookies issue and the ss posting issue arising at the same time (today), I'm getting a bit (more) paranoid.

[BobH]

Here are the Firefox Cookies Settings . . .

FastStone Fx Cookies Settings.gif

and the Cookies Exceptions . . .

Cookies Exceptions.png

I switched over to FastStone Capture and got the same result when I tried to capture the entire Fx Options panel; so I just clipped it a bit and got the size down.

Now I'm wondering why Robosizer has always taken care of sizing for me in the past but not today. And, why would an Options panel image be so large? I've captured entire screens and posted them in the past without hitting the 256Kb limit.

[HansV]

The .png format is usually the best format for screenshots of applications. For photographs, .jpg is better.

[viking33]

Bob,
Below is a copy of my settings in the Privacy tab, History. ( I used the Snipping tool in Windows ) I would click on show cookies and see if one is from Amazon. Delete it and let Amazon set a new cookie.

FX cookies.JPG

[BobH]

Although I've not edited the entries, I thought to check about:config using "cookies" as the search argument and got these results . . .

About Config for Cookies.gif

I'm not certain how to interpret the information but the "false" setting makes me think that about:config has a different value than is displayed in the Tools>Options>Privacy panel.



Where is the Twilight Zone smilie?

[HansV]

@BobH: For screenshots (not photographs), 256-color .png is usually sufficient, and it produces smaller file sizes. If I save your screenshots as 256-color png, the first one shrinks form 190 KB to 93 KB, and the second one from 148 KB to 42 KB, without noticeable loss of quality.

[Argus]

Although I've not edited the entries, I thought to check about:config using "cookies" as the search argument and got these results . . .
[...]
I'm not certain how to interpret the information but the "false" setting makes me think that about:config has a different value than is displayed in the Tools>Options>Privacy panel.

The bold thing in the config page, pref.privacy.disable_button.view_cookies, indicates that it is an entry that has been changed from the default value, nothing odd. Major changes, from default values, can also be seen on the troubleshooting page Help > Troubleshooting (or about:support) (but I think some of these changes are already made when installed, i.e. a fresh install may have some tweaks).

You should see some changes (bold) entries in the config page regarding this, since you are using "Use custom settings for history" on the Privacy tab in the Preferences dialogue box, it isn't the default setting when Fx is installed. I have the same setting (although different in the check box) and it's bold in the config page.

It could perhaps be a case of Fx not remembering your preferences, or corrupt cookies from the site. Take a look at this thread at Mozilla support, about the file user.js. But I would first start with cleaning the cache and some cookies that are not important.

Firefix (sic!) does not retain Preferences>Privacy>Remember History
https://support.mozilla.org/sv/questions/1015382" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

User.js was an alternative to using the preferences; if present Fx wouldn't use the settings in the Preferences dialogue box or on the config page, but the file; don't know if people still use it; normally you shouldn't need one I guess, so if there is one it can be removed.

The thread also links to: How to fix preferences that won't save.

[BobH]

Thanks for the help, Argus!

I read the referenced information and found nothing that would fix the problem. As a last resort, I downloaded a fresh copy of Firefox 36.0 then uninstalled Fx from my Programs and Features and reinstalled Fx. I changed no settings but the problem persists.

I finally called Amazon's help desk. They could offer no solutions with Firefox but had me install Chrome instead. With Chrome, I had no problems getting in to Amazon.

FWIW: The only cookie I can see with Tools>Options>Privacy>View Cookies is the one for Eileen's Lounge. I went a step further and looked into Cookies Exceptions and added one for Amazon.com with "allow" set as the exception value. It made no difference.

I will post on Mozillazine Forums and see if I can get any better information. I am now suspicious that the Fx feature that saves information in a Profile and uses it to set options after updating or reinstalling might be the cause, but I don't know that for sure, yet.

Again, Thanks to All for the help.



(I still think we need a Twilight Zone smiley)

[Argus]

You're welcome, it was just an idea.
Well, if you used a fresh copy (of Fx 36) but your old profile the problem could still be there, yes (and we also have to remember that there can be different add-ons that perhaps can get in the way when trying to access different sites). There are some KB articles on how to migrate some data, important things such as bookmarks, cookie settings etc. after creating a new profile that perhaps could have worked.

I missed to mention it, sorry, but you could also have created a new (temporary) profile in Fx for troubleshooting, by using the Fx profile manager (running firefox.exe -p), and see if that one worked with the site you were having trouble with.
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/pr ... x-profiles" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(Personally I wouldn't change browser if it didn't work with a site, since it's probably some other problem (a fresh install of anything usually works, so no surprise there), unless the browser in question was IE. )

[BobH]

The problem with cookies has been resolved. After re-reading the threat thread that Argus posted and following the various links therein, I found a suggestion to Refresh Fx. I did and that worked. I had to reinstall my Add-ons, but I can now log in to the sites I was having troubles with.

[HansV]

After re-reading the threat that Argus posted

That's a grave accusation!

[Argus]

After re-reading the threat that Argus posted

That's a grave accusation!

[viking33]

Little late with this but I don't think Windows Program and Features would remove your old profile when uninstalling the program itself. The fresh install then picks up your old profile and gives it a new code name. Result is your old settings are used again.
This is another reason to use a 3rd party uninstaller like Revo or Advanced Uninstaller which will dig further and remove all traces of the old program. I compare that Windows process to deleting a file which really doesn't get deleted but just changes the first character of the filename. Deleted from view but not deleted!