For months, I have been frustrated by the fact that suddenly and unexpectedly I could not log on to several sites that I logged on to easily in the past.To my knowledge, It was only happening on one of the six computers that I owned. This particular computer is a lap top and is running Windows XP SP2.

Some of the sites gave me a message that my internet browser must be configured to allow cookies. I would double check my browser and found the this feature was enabled. I tried other types of browsers without success.

I wondered whether if was a hardware related problem at first. This is because I have attached an external USB keyboard and thought that maybe the sites in question sensed that the keyboard was external and would not accept a log in from an external keyboard as a security feature. I however tested this theory by disconnecting the keyboard and trying to log in using the built in laptop touch screen, I again had the same problem.

Finally, this week, I encountered the same problem on another of the 6 computers that I own. This particular computer is a dual boot Intel chip based Mac that can run both Windows XP SP2 and the Mac OS 10. I had not noticed this problem on that particular computer since we rarely boot it up to run the WinXP OS.

I did several Google searches on the problem and found that many people were complaining about the same problem and that there were no posted solutions for it. I then started to think about what other things other than the OS did the two computers have in common. I finally decided that they were both running the CA Internet Security Software Suite. Here is a link to the software site:

CA Security software

As a customer of Bright House Networks internet service, we get this software free for all of our PC’s that run WinXP or below. Here is a link where you can register to receive your free copy if you are a Bright House Customer:

Bright House Software Registration Site

It occurred to me that maybe the Firewall on this software suite was somehow causing this problem. I did a few more Google searches listing my problem and adding the name of the security suite. I only found one promising lead. This was a review of the this software suite and the review said that this software prevented the user from using Window remote login feature until he went into the advance Firewall settings and turned off this restriction.

This gave me the idea to go to the advanced settings of the Firewall section of this software suite. Low and behold, when I went into it, I found that it also had three settings to control how your browser accepts cookies. They were high, medium and low . This must have been a new feature which was in the latest upgrade which I did not know about. Since I get a free copy, not only is my virus definitions automatically upgraded but also the version of this software suite.

I quickly decided to change the setting to medium and then try logging in to the sites which were blocking me. To my surprise, I logged on perfectly. So, I went to my other computer and changed this setting again and got the same positive result.

So, these are the steps and screen shots on how to change the settings:

1. Double click to open up your CA security software, you should be a window appear that looks like this:

2. Now click on the double arrow button on the right side of the screen next to CA Personal Firewall, your window should now look like this:

3. Now click on the link underneath the Firewall which states, “Open Advanceded Settings”. Your window should now look like this:

4. Now click on Privacy on the left side of this Window, it should now look like this:

5. Make sure to set the cookies to medium. Close your program and now you should be able to log on to the sites that you were not able to to previously.

Hope this blog helps someone to resolve this problem. If it did help, please consider leaving a comment to let me know.