I found a solution to my cookies being lost...
Its a partial fix, but as long as I stick with only using Firefox I am now keeping my cookies.
I am not sure if all this would be required, but I first uninstalled Firefox with the Revo Uninstaller using the highest level of cleaning.
Then I uninstalled XP SP3... A real pain and time consuming because many updates were uninstalled as well, along with certain program software made non-functional with the SP3 uninstall. Could not uninstall IE7 with SP3 installed. Uninstalled IE7 and back to IE6.
Next, updated and reinstalled SP3. Next was wait for all the needed updates to install. Updated back to IE7 again with hopes this install would correct the problem.
Here's the cookies solution.. My primary browser has been Firefox. So, I find its no problem not to save IE7 cookies. IE7 now blocks all cookies. On my IE7 Google homepage its now set for the simple classic look. So, no need for cookies. Since I use Firefox 99.99% of the time its not important that IE7 save cookies.
One tip: I use IE7 to navigate to a page I wanted marked in the XP Favorites menu. I will find a page to mark in Firefox. To have it show up in the default XP Favorites menu I cut and paste the address out of Firefox and go there with IE7. I then mark it as a Favorite in IE7. That way, the favorite shows up in the Favorites menu on Start. Then, next time I can find that page directly with Firefox using the default XP Favorites menu. If I save it in Firefox Bookmarks it will not show up in the XP Favorites menu. This Favorites save is defaulted to IE7. Doing it this way I do not have to send Firefox first to my homepage, and then locate it in Firefox's Bookmarks. Saves time and extra steps this way.
Addendum: Just found this... Firefox offers an Add On called, "Plain Old favorites." No need to use IE7 to save favorites to default XP menu. Just used it. Perfect.
Only Firefox should be used for saving cookies. CCleaner is now stabilized on clean up of cookies. I found that IE7 would not hold cookies even after uninstalling CCleaner! I do not have this problem on my laptop with XP Pro. But, this has at least solved the problem on my PC as long as I only save cookies in Firefox. If you try to save cookies for IE7 it will overflow and mess up the Firefox saved cookies. Its contagious.
Leaving cookies allowed in IE7 will nullify any cookies saved by Firefox. I now have IE7 blocking all cookies. Its working fine. After a CCleaner cleaning, the cookies remain effective as long as I only allow cookies in Firefox.
So be it, GeneZ