11 replies to this topic

[Sys_Eng]

I've been adding to the custom folders to remove the Flash cookies and Silverlight ones (at least those I can find). CCleaner is wonderful in that it relatively easily allows me to add these things, but I wonder how many users are aware of these cookies and have added them?

It would be wonderful if they could be included by default in future releases?

[JDPower]

CCleaner already deletes flash cookies (though some users may wish to add the settings.sol file also if they don't mind losing their flash settings).

I don't know if it handles Silverlight cookies, I suspect it doesn't but could be wrong (I've never installed, or needed to install, Silverlight so couldn't check)

[Sys_Eng]

JDPower, on Feb 18 2010, 10:58 PM, said:

CCleaner already deletes flash cookies (though some users may wish to add the settings.sol file also if they don't mind losing their flash settings).

I don't know if it handles Silverlight cookies, I suspect it doesn't but could be wrong (I've never installed, or needed to install, Silverlight so couldn't check)

I was using the most recent version of CC last year, when I came across an article on manually deleting flash cookies. I ran CC and checked, there were still flash cookies on my computer, some had been there for months from what I could tell. So unless there was something wrong with my installion, are you sure yours is deleting ALL your flash cookies?

[JDPower]

Sys_Eng, on Feb 19 2010, 12:17 AM, said:

I was using the most recent version of CC last year, when I came across an article on manually deleting flash cookies. I ran CC and checked, there were still flash cookies on my computer, some had been there for months from what I could tell. So unless there was something wrong with my installion, are you sure yours is deleting ALL your flash cookies?

Yes

[Sys_Eng]

Hi again JDPower and thank you for your help! I had to double-check my facts first, so I installed the latest version on a well-used system (XP Home, SP3, all updates and latest CC).

I ran CC twice and rebooted, then went to the options page for Flash:

http://www.macromedia.com/support/document..._manager07.html

There were lots of Flash cookies still on this computer as well, dating all the way back to when it was new.

I had to manually add cleaning the folder to CC. I did a search for the name of the cookies and it turned out (at least in this case), they were all living in:

C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys

This folder would need to be added for each user on the computer, but that computer only had the one.

So I don't think CC is getting rid of all the Flash cookies after all? So unless you have set your storage space on the Flash control panel to zero, you should find there are Flash cookies still on your computer as well..

Thank you very much for all of your help and the kind reply!

JDPower, on Feb 19 2010, 02:06 AM, said:

Yes

[JDPower]

Sys_Eng, on Mar 2 2010, 11:10 PM, said:

I did a search for the name of the cookies and it turned out (at least in this case), they were all living in:

C:\Documents and Settings\[User Name]\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys

This folder would need to be added for each user on the computer, but that computer only had the one.

So I don't think CC is getting rid of all the Flash cookies after all? So unless you have set your storage space on the Flash control panel to zero, you should find there are Flash cookies still on your computer as well.

I did mention this already, perhaps wasn't clear enough:

JDPower, on Feb 18 2010, 10:58 PM, said:

(though some users may wish to add the settings.sol file also if they don't mind losing their flash settings)

This file is deliberately excluded and has been for a long tome due to users complaining of their Flash settings being removed. Assuming you aren't bothered about that just add

"C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\settings.sol"

as an inclusion. This has been discussed many times before and a search of the forum for Flash cookies or "settings.sol" would have found the same information.

[Sys_Eng]

Sorry, I did not understand you -

JDPower, on Feb 18 2010, 10:58 PM, said:

CCleaner already deletes flash cookies (though some users may wish to add the settings.sol file also if they don't mind losing their flash settings).

I took you to mean that it WAS deleting Flash cookies (that is what you said after all), when it does not. You have to manually add the folder as I said.

Deleting the settings is a drawback I agree and is a good reason why I think proper support for Flash cookies should be written into CC. It should be a minor bit of coding to put a checkbox in there, so users can have the cookies deleted, but CC will leave the settings.sol alone. I maintain that it seems a shame to me, that this is not an included option.

JDPower, on Mar 2 2010, 11:39 PM, said:

I did mention this already, perhaps wasn't clear enough:
This file is deliberately excluded and has been for a long tome due to users complaining of their Flash settings being removed. Assuming you aren't bothered about that just add

"C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Application Data\Macromedia\Flash Player\macromedia.com\support\flashplayer\sys\settings.sol"

as an inclusion. This has been discussed many times before and a search of the forum for Flash cookies or "settings.sol" would have found the same information.

As for it being discussed before, I know, but I wanted to add my voice to those asking for it to be included in CC, but I ALSO wanted to mention Silverlight, as it is doing much the same. BUT it is much harder to remove their cookies (from what I have read) as they are in many folders, not just one and also they are encrypted. For this reason I have uninstalled Silverlight on all the systems I oversee, until I know more about any potential security issues with them.

[JDPower]

Sys_Eng, on Mar 4 2010, 12:53 AM, said:

Deleting the settings is a drawback I agree and is a good reason why I think proper support for Flash cookies should be written into CC. It should be a minor bit of coding to put a checkbox in there, so users can have the cookies deleted, but CC will leave the settings.sol alone.

But, as I understand it, the settings.sol file IS a Flash cookie file, it just happens to also hold the Flash settings so there is no way of saving one without the other.

Regarding Silverlight I have never needed to install or use it so have no clue about the cookies produced by it unfortunately.

[Sys_Eng]

I'm hoping it might not be too difficult to keep the settings, since it is a cookie just as you say, but in my experience, it has been the only one with a .sol suffix. The other cookies seem to have their own folders. CC would need to delete everything except "settings.sol" in that folder.

I hope to get chance today to try adding "settings.sol" to the list of cookies to keep and see if CC will recognize it and keep it. If so, then I have a good workaround, until hopefully it will be added properly to CC one day...

If not, then it feels really "kludgy" but I am thinking of a small batch file that will copy settings.sol to c:\temp (or some safe location if that folder is set to be cleared out as well). Then the batch file will call CC and let it do it's job, including clearing out everything from the Flash cookies folder. The batch file will then copy settings.sol back into the Flash folder and terminate. Possibly you might want it to delete the copy of settings.sol as well before ending.

Most people who run CC are interested enough in security to want to clear out cookies, so I think a lot of them would not be happy to know the dirty tricks of the long-term/permanent cookies that are stored by Flash and Silverlight completely seperate from your web browser. I know most reading these fora however will know a lot about computers and so none of this is likely to be news to them - That's why I would have like to see it included as an option (default option possibly?) in CC for less expert users who are also concerned about security.

[JDPower]

Sys_Eng, on Mar 4 2010, 10:56 AM, said:

CC would need to delete everything except "settings.sol" in that folder.

It already does.

You're still misunderstanding - the settings.sol contains some of the websites you can see via the Flash settings manager AND contains the Flash settings (open it yourself with notepad and have a look), they are the same file so it will make no difference moving the file elsewhere, cleaning, and putting it back - the settings.sol will still contain the same sites. CCleaner already cleans everything EXCEPT the settings.sol file for the reasons already mentioned, unfortunately this means any sites that are written to the settings.sol file show up in the Flash settings manager, this is the price you have to pay to retain Flash settings. Or if you don't care about the settings do as most do and add it to be cleaned by CCleaner.

If you were really desperate to keep the settings you're idea of a batch file may work - delete settings.sol, set you Flash settings to create a new clean settings.sol file, then move that file elsewhere and use a batch file to have it replace any new settings.sol file that is recreated.

[Sys_Eng]

No, it doesn't...

I have tried this you know!

You are right in that the websites are named in settings.sol, I had not looked at it in notepad. In that case you would have to get rid of your settings as well. The default settings are not too bad, so I personally will sacrifice settings to get rid of the cookies.

The cookies have their own folders in that Flash folder as well as in setings.sol.

CC does NOT clean out the Flash folder, not unless you add it as a custom folder and I wonder why you keep saying it does? I've tested this twice now on different computers and CC leaves the Flash folder completely alone.

This makes native support for Flash cookies even more important for CC, since as you pointed out, there is no easy workaround then after all sadly.

[JDPower]

Sys_Eng, on Mar 4 2010, 07:36 PM, said:

CC does NOT clean out the Flash folder, not unless you add it as a custom folder and I wonder why you keep saying it does?

Because it does on my computer and every computer I've used so can only assume there is some issue with the Flash cleaning on your system that needs looking at