This morning I had to do a system restore to yesterday due to a freaking bug that hit me this morning.
After the restore everything looked good as far as software (except as noted below).
My protection software had quaranteened the bugs and I deleted them.

Now I have a question about my Favorite Internet Sites that are saved to my computer drive.
They are gone from the Internet when I open my browser window.
My favotires no longer show up in the Favorites window.

When I look inside the Favorites folder on the drive they all show up as VERY LIGHT....
In fact most of my folders do that now.

I now have to type in every Internet site I want to go to.
And I even have to log into long familiar sites (like this one) that I did not need to log into yesterday as I had set my most visited sites (like this one) as "remember me" deals...
WHAT A PAIN that is!

As a matter of fact, it wont remember me as being logged into the Acaeum Forums (even though I told it to) after I close this window right now.

Windows XP
Explorer version 8

Tried your quick fix... did not work.
The favorites are ghosted inside the folders (on the drive) and in my browser favorites drop down menu they are not there at all.

Fixed!

I logged on as administrator and noted that many of my files had been changed to HIDDEN.

Dont know how that happened, but I clicked the HIDDEN button to unpicked....

THANK you for your help!

ScketreWhisp® wrote:Other than that, you should also NEVER have anything on your computer save password and cookies and auto login to anything nor remember you at all...

I was just teaching students about this the other day.  Personally, I think a sheet of paper with all your login and password info stored in your desk drawer or left out in the open is a lot safer than having any browser remember them.  Your computer is at a lot more risk of being compromised than your house is.  Most people don't even set the master password in their browser to at least give all their saved passwords a small bit of security.

Next week I'm doing a demonstration in class to show how to easy it is to hack into devices on WiFi - I'm expecting to compromise the devices of about half the class

Can't really help you with your problems but I generally keep a copy of my bookmarks file saved somewhere just in case.  Restore never seems to go smoothly - reimaging usually ends up being easier and your machine has a fresh start instead of months of crap being added and removed, etc.

ScketreWhisp® wrote:Have we gone back to the stone age ?

I actually have all of my passwords memorized and do use a strange formula to develop them for each site.  I use a piece of paper to list all the sites that I have created logins on though - they really add up.  I am up to about 100 logins and passwords.  I remember the 20 or so that I use frequently but the rest I have to spend a couple minutes to work out - they are partially based on the content of the website, the login name I use, email address they are link too, and a couple other factors.

I don't like using common phrases because capitalization schemes of dictionary words is pretty easy to crack.  Phrases are definitely better than single words but common character replacements like "@" for "a" or "$" for "S" are predictable too.

The saving grace of your passwords is mainly their length.

So 12345 isn't safe to use as a password?

ShaneG.

Blackmoor wrote:Dam, I have had the same password for years  

The textbook I have been using for the course suggests changing all of your passwords every month - I haven't changed mine in years either.  I can't imagine monthly password changes is feasible for anyone.  Although it does make me wonder how many login/password accounts an average person has.

At least Ebay only has 1 for all incarnations (.com/.ca/.co.uk/.de/.com.au)

Wish Amazon would have done the same.

Mars wrote:I actually have all of my passwords memorized and do use a strange formula to develop them for each site.  I use a piece of paper to list all the sites that I have created logins on though - they really add up.  I am up to about 100 logins and passwords.  I remember the 20 or so that I use frequently but the rest I have to spend a couple minutes to work out - they are partially based on the content of the website, the login name I use, email address they are link too, and a couple other factors.

I have 1Password on my Mac, Windows, and iPhone.  They are synchronized and backed up via Dropbox.  1Password is best on Mac because of the browser extensions.  To log in to www.acaeum.com just now I used keystroke ⌘\.  I was prompted for my master password, and after I entered it the 1Password Safari extension took care of the rest.  On Windows it is necessary to launch 1Password which is protected by the master password, and then cut-and-paste the website password into the login form.  

1Password is expensive, but all the passwords I use on websites are strong and different and my passwords are always available.  There are only 6 passwords which I have committed to memory nowadays, and that includes my ATM PIN, the code to the front gate of my building, and the code which unlocks my phone.