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IE5 doesnt save site visits in drop down menu.

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kenall

Technical User
Mar 26, 2002
5
US
when viewing websites, their addresses are saved to the HDD, i think. and can be accessed by using the button on the far right of the address field bar when in IE5. this drop down menu lists ur recent web site visits. now it is blank.

my history menu (in internet options) is set to delete all web sites only after 31days. now it doesnt keep sites for a single day. as long as the computor is on, and i type in the web site ea time, the site will remain in the drop down history folder, but after a reboot, that menu is blank. IE5 does allow for completion to take place, it will complete the website if i punch in the first few letters.

so the addresses are being saved, just not in the location that IE5 uses for the drop down menu.

if i use the history 'button' above the address field bar, i can see my sites visits. but not in the drop down menu which i prefer.

i just installed nortons internet security 2002. the problem occurred, i 'rem'd out the rpogram in the registry, so it doesnt start on boot up, but problem remains :(
 
Did you look at your autocomplete settings? Go to IE Properties, Content, Autocomplete, and see if "Web Addresses" is checked. That might be your problem. That's all I can come up with. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
Somebody correct me if I'm wrong,, but far as I know the dropdown window in address bar will only list typed or pasted in urls not all visted websites. No answer for the empty window when you click on it after reboot. Still looking for that.
 
You're right, deke40, I guess I assumed that was what he meant. Doesn't autocomplete keep up with what is typed there or does it do it's own thing? "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
my mistake, yes this pertains to only typed in sites. after i type in the site, IE5 will retain that info in the drop down menu untill i reboot. then the menu is blank.
 
nobrain, web addresses is checked.
 
I think you are supposed to lose this info on a boot. Mine cleans out after a re-start. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
You are not "supposed" to lose this information on a reboot. It depends on your operating system. The option to clear temp files and history is enabled by default in Windows 2000 (and I'm not sure about XP).

It isn't a setting in your browser that can help you. Let us know first what OS you have and we'll go from there...

[pipe]
~cdogg
 
For your info,

if you type in a little 4-line batch file and save it at the end of Autoexec.bat, all your info regarding internet usage WILL be deleted regardless of the OS upon bootup. The lines, and you may copy|paste 'em are:

deltree /y c:\windows\cookies
deltree /y c:\windows\cookies\index.dat
deltree /y c:\history
deltree /y c:\tempor~1

Also, Xteq Systems X-Setup ( has the option to do this under Internet|Internet Explorer|Clear tab. Finally, you may achieve the same results with a little manual registry hacking (which X-teq does for you).

PS. Don't thank me! [morning]
 
mickeyred,

Nice idea, but remember that not everyone's history, temporary internet files, and cookies will be located in the same place. In Windows 2000 for example, it's under documents and settings which can also be on a different drive altogether.

Just thought I'd clear up the "regardless of OS"...[thumbsup2]
 
cdogg,

you're right about "regardless of OS". Oddly enough, every PC at work and friends' PCs (all Win9X) do keep the history and related files in the same drive! No wonder some have been caught off guard for not doing their cleaning chores right! Don't blame me! [thumbsup]
 
well im using w98se. ie5.5. and after booting this evening, all the sites i typed in yesterday are gone once again. from the drop down menu that is...if i use the history button in the button bar, i can access past site addresses no prob.
 
Right click on the IE icon on the desktop, click on properties. What value is in the box "Days to keep pages in history". If this value is zero, that might be your problem. "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
nobrain..thanks for ur response..but did u reed my first post?
 
There are two different things. The history, all the sites visited during the past X days, that's stored on the HDD. The other, and separate thing, is what we see in the dropdown list of the address bar, the history of typed URLs.
That is not stored on the HDD, but in the registry

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\TypedURLs

Having those stored or not, yes, it's a matter of the setting Autocomplete in MSIE being checked.

Except when some outside progam interferes. You say it's Norton's Internet Security doing it. You also say you haven't uninstalled it, just prevented it from autostarting. I suggest you launch it manually once, long enough to find where to change the setting with it of it deleting the TypedUrls entry.

(Even if you have the Norton prog not autolaunching, it is still accomplishing that action, by some means, if not some independent script somewhere on your machine, then perhaps an entry it stuck in your registry.)



 
I have a similar problem. I run XPpro (and McAfee). I can only partially access IE history using the button above the Address Bar. It is only populated when set to 'view > by most visited'. I can 'Search' the history and find anything I have visited. Otherwise it is blank. When set to 'view by date' the only listing(s) is/are empty PREVIOUS day(s); this behaviour varies. The current day is never listed. Have tried clearing history, setting to zero days, saving settings and subsequently resetting to 62 days and other in between settings.
 
I haven't happened to have heard of this symptom. But where I'd start would be to see what's going on with the files via explorer. Open up the history folder in explorer. Start out by deleting everything there (just in case there is any kind of corruption). Then set your options to whatever, seven days, and watch if the files in the history folder in explorer build up in a normal manner...

(And just out of general principle, it's always a good idea to periodically delete the index.dat file in the cache, in case of any corruption there. Got to do it from a DOS command, you probably know. Like a good stern deltree.)
 
Sorry, I thought of that without re-reading your post. I'm bad about that. I'll try to improve! "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....." [morning]
 
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