Cookies deleted, but ebay stills recognizes my previous views

[argon]

I don't keep any ebay cookies on the "saved" / retained side of CCleaner's Options window, so when I spend time surfing the net & ebay, all ebay (as well as all other non-saved cookies) are deleted. I used to be able to return to those sites, and there was no hint that I was there previously, e.g., on ebay this would be the item name & link, blue in color if not previously opened, purplish if the link/web page/item had been accessed.

 

I cleared my cookies and everything else that CC cleans when run (but I do not run the "advanced" feature options that you see listed faintly below the default items cleaned -- should I? Which one?) Well, I just went to my usual ebay listings just to check up on things, and I see that the items that I viewed yesterday have "already been opened" (changed link color). Yet, I ran CC twice since my last visit to ebay.

 

This is something new that I'm seeing, and I don't understand why it's happening. My viewing history is not being deleted... somewhere! I get this even when I am NOT signed into ebay.

 

Who knows what's going on? If this is the case with ebay, I'm sure it's happened everywhere. I get an amazing number of targeted ads all the time. Thanks.

[Nergal]

OS version

Browser Name and version

do you have adobe flash checked off in the second tab of ccleaner (applications)

Is the browser running when you cclean?

do you run any eBay-based software (like a auction sniping tool for instance) or any sort of RSS that checks out to eBay?

[argon]

Thanks for the reply. Here's what I have going on:

 

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1

 

Browser Name and Version: Internet Explorer 10, Version 10.0.9200.16618, Update Version 10.0.6 (KB2838727)

 

Adobe Flash: is checked (ON) Should this be unchecked (OFF)? I believe I updated this two or three weeks ago; perhaps the update defaulted to ON. What's the significance of this (ON vs. OFF)? BTW, under that second tab, every option is checked except Sun Java and Game Explorer.

 

No, I don't use any sniping software, and I am unfamiliar with any/never knowingly used RSS.

[realtime]

Which version of CCleaner?

 

Are you sure there are no Ebay cookies being kept by way of CCleaners cookies to keep?

 

Have you checked in the Excluded items list to see if there is anything there that could be ignoring them?

 

IE10 significantly changed some behaviors and locations. A couple things that could be tried:

 

Make sure your cleaning (checked) the Temporary Internet Files, History and Cookies in CCleaner.

Also, run a cleaning once with IE10's cleaning process, do this while IE10 is closed: Control panel, Internet Options, General tab, Browsing history, Delete...,

Check all the boxes except the top one, Preserve favorite website data then click Delete button then OK to exit.

This way you're starting rather fresh and can maybe see what is being saved.

 

Also might want to include index.dat files in CCleaner.

[Winapp2.ini]

This issue seems to only affect Windows 7 Home as I cannot recreate this (or the similar Craigslist issue) using Windows 7 Pro SP1 X64 and IE10 (fully updated)

[realtime]

I had this problem before on XP then W7 IE10. I wonder if there is a folder permission that is missing, or maybe, one of the cookies or temporary files has permission/ownership issue.

 

I guess it kind of boils down to how far OP Argon wants to go with this. I know that IE9 deleting browsing history had some weird behaviors/corruption when clearing and would sometimes create another Temporary Internet Files folder. To see this you'll need to uncheck Hide protected operating system files from folder options and look/search through the folders for its presence. I don't know if an IE10 upgrade would have killed it or if still lingering with stuff in it.

 

Check Control Panel, Internet options - Browsing history settings and verify the path isn't weird, i.e., no tildes ~ within the path structure. That it points cleanly where its location is.

[Andavari]

I wonder if there is a folder permission that is missing, or maybe, one of the cookies or temporary files has permission/ownership issue.

 

Maybe, or some new form of Supercookie. Perhaps Adobe Flash based cookies, or maybe a DOMStore cookie.

[realtime]

Maybe, or some new form of Supercookie. Perhaps Adobe Flash based cookies, or maybe a DOMStore cookie.

 

You're onto something with this. Just before the current CC version I became quite familiar with the DOMstore and had set-up exclusions so that I could retain persistent login cookies that were getting swept. I've since reverted back to the standard cookies to keep set-up without any special tricks like (*.website.com).

 

IE10 is so structurally different that I'm sure the CC Dev's are working hard to adapt to the new and continue to support the old.

 

Oh, BTW, I'm not getting email for Forum Topics I'm following that are set for immediate notify. Maybe it doesn't send email. Never mind - figured it out. But I'm still unable to like anything.

[argon]

Here's a couple of screen shots that will tell all that I have:

 

 

 

 

I don't know a whole lot about this stuff. Is there some CC resource that briefly explains what each option is, and the effect of turning it on vs. off?

[realtime]

http://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner

 

Run a cleaning once with IE10's cleaning process, do this while IE10 is closed: Control panel, Internet Options, General tab, Browsing history, Delete...,

Check all the boxes except the top one: Preserve favorite website data then click Delete button afterward then OK to exit.

 

Use CC onward after that and see if it helps.

[Alan_B]

Never mind - figured it out. But I'm still unable to like anything.

No one can like anything - not even Moderators

[argon]

realtime - thanks for that link. Just what I needed.

 

I just went through those steps you listed. I then opened my home page, Yahoo News, and there was the temperature/weather of my home town! And I'm in a suburb (different Zip Code) of the "cable location" city I live next to. I do keep a very few cookies preserved with CC, but I've never used my address with any of them. The only thing I can think of is what someone once mentioned on a previous post of mine -- that the info comes from my ISP address. I have a hard time believing, though, that it could be that specific. Maybe this is all beyond our control now.... a new world.

[realtime]

If you have to sign-in to use your ISP or Homepage at Yahoo some information will be stored on their servers as your static preferences.

A lot of stuff gets preserved and put back into a cookie on the local machine to speed things up.

 

This might be happening with Ebay and Craigslist to an extent. Much like Andavari said.

 

If you ever get curious you can get Folders Options to display hidden and system files and poke around in some of the folders using the paths displayed in the what is about to get cleaned lists when running CC.

 

Yes, our privacy is being attacked.

[argon]

Check Control Panel, Internet options - Browsing history settings and verify the path isn't weird, i.e., no tildes ~ within the path structure. That it points cleanly where its location is.

 

Thanks, everyone for all these replies. I'm going through them again, and thought I'd re-investigate this advice. (The more I go over things, the more I understand.) Here's a screen shot of a tab in the browsing history settings:

 

Well, it seems (since there is a separate tab) that "Caches and databases" is (are) not the same thing as "Temporary Internet Files." May be something.... Thoughts on this?

 

PS - Looking again, I see that there are no websites listed within that small window for a listing of web sites. But with the primary block "checked" maybe there is some caching going on somewhere...?

[realtime]

I have that on mine but have never seen anything stored in the cache there yet.

 

It may very well be a *.dat index somewhere. Double check that nothing is in the CC/options /Exclude or Cookies /to keep (tabs) that could be retaining them.

 

Right click the taskbar and select Start Task manager /Processes (tab), always make sure iexplore.exe isn't running when using CC. Keep in mind you'll have several instances of it if multiple browser tabs are open. If the browser is closed and you still have one or more of these listed, select the first one then the button (End Proccess) on the bottom of the window.

Then try running CC again.

[argon]

I searched my files for something unusual. Right now Yahoo has my town listed in its weather report, so I searched for it. At each page of search results, I arranged the files from most recent to oldest, knowing that the any suspicious file would be very recent, dated for today, or yesterday at the very latest. Nearly all results were saved email messages and saved word processing documents. So I opened the C drive, looking for something besides these items. This is about the only thing I found with a recent date of creation and modification:

 

OS(C:) --> Users --> (my name) --> AppData --> Local --> IconCache.db

 

This "IconCache.db" file is a "Data Base File" that is 17.9 MB is size. It was not deleted by running CC. It was created just last Monday, so it must be caching a lot of stuff (and not temp files; too small for that), being so large.

 

It seems like this could be something. I did not try to open it, not sure if I should delete it. Thoughts?

[Andavari]

This "IconCache.db" file is a "Data Base File" that is 17.9 MB is size.

 

It's just the icon cache for your system, such as it stores every program icons for shortcuts on the desktop/start menu, etc., it has nothing to do with cookie storage.

 

Edit:

Make certain you have Adobe Flash Player ticked in CCleaner. Cookies can be saved in the configuration settings.sol file of Adobe Flash Player which is important info for anyone that holds onto that settings file, cookies aren't limited to their own unique storage files/folders under Flash.

Edited June 30, 2013 by Andavari

[Augeas]

As far as I've been able to ascertain:

 

IE10 no longer creates or uses index.dat files. Browsing history is now stored in a file called WebCacheV01.dat (or V24.dat), in folder C:\Users\username\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\WebCache\. To look at what's inside this file Nirsoft's BrowsingHistoryView at http://www.nirsoft.n...story_view.html can be used - this may give a 'dirty' read as the file isn't finalised until a short while after IE10 is closed.

 

There's a mine of information in this file, and I guess we're waiting for CC to add this to its cleaning routines.

 

WebCacheV01.dat It is locked by IE10 when the browser is open, and for a short time after IE10 is closed as it waits to be updated. It can be deleted and will be recreated at the next browser open, and indeed the hyperlink highlighting - along with all other browsing history - will be cleared.

 

An alternative to deletion is to reduce the keep browser history period within IE10 from the default 20 days, or add the file to CC's include option - or just live with it.

 

(The above relates to Win8Pro)

[argon]

Interesting/good stuff from the both of you mods. I'll look into these things. I run CC frequently, try to do this daily, especially after a lot of "research" (lots of sites visited) on the web, unless I've stumbled onto things that I might want to return to via my daily browsing History and that I didn't add to my Favorites file. I like to wipe out all my footsteps. Nothing stays for more than 48 hours.

 

Anyway, I think we're getting there, to the point where we will identify and be able to completely delete our browsing histories. It's sort of like researching a cure for cancer, isn't it. Thanks, all.

 

PS - Adobe Flash Player is "ticked" in CC.

[argon]

New info (to me); check it out: http://askbobrankin.com/are_you_being_fingerprinted_online.html

Edited July 6, 2013 by Nergal
removed unneeded html referencing (everything after the .html is useless in web address)