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I use IE 6.0 with SP1 and when I save websites to my favorite places many of the sites appear in my favorite places list with it's unique icon but after I reboot are clear my temp internet files these icons change to the default " blue E" that Microsoft uses fot Internet Explorer. Anybody got an idea how to keep each websites proprietary icon in the list and prevent the change?
fflan513--Try this program
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,108438,00.asp
Welshjim,
perfect answer, thx so much. I love Virtual Dr. There's always someone with a ready answer; think of the power we could generate if all these minds (big and small) were joined together for a common cause. Oh, well so much for dreaming. :D
Again, thx!
fflan513--Thanks for posting back. Always good to hear that a suggestion helped.
you can right click on internet explorer >properties>settings>view files then find the icon and file click on it ,it will tell you this might be unsafe, go ahead and open it up then click file on bar then save as i usually put the icon in my documents . then it will stay on your desktop.
these icons are favicons and you loose them when you clear your internet files unless you save them
It might be of interest to know that they're used for web-tracking.
all you are saving is the favicon or icon on your desktop dont know how they could use this to track you
It's fairly harmless - some webmasters know that many of us delete unwanted cookies, so they don't bother with them, but use favicons instead - we (well some of us) like the look of 'em, and keep them. If we visit the site again, and IE doesn't download the favicon 'cos there's already one in our TIF folder, the server knows we've been there before, and of course the previous access was logged.
rambler--Is there some reference you can direct me to that says Favicons are web-trackers?
I had a couple, but now I revisit, I find the sites are "member-only". One was http://www.webmasterworld.com where I find I can search and view titles, but not view a message thread without logging in.
the favicon is not a cookie all you are saving is the picture or the icon for that website, alot of websites require you to sign in including this one. i have a virtual dr. icon on my desk top , i have my computer to clear my temporary internet sites every time i log off, i still have the icon but i have to login each time because i deleted the cookie. the favicon or icon is saved.
"Malformed Favorites Icon" Vulnerability .
Also 26-JUL-99 Langa List. An excerpt from this article reads:
"It’s theoretically possible for a web site to track which IP address is calling for the favicon.ico. This isn’t exactly a gaping security hole, but it is at least theoretically possible for a site owner to figure out which IP addresses are bookmarking his or her site. It would be somewhat easier for the site to build a log of your bookmarks if you let the site set a cookie, or if you registered upon entry.
I mention low-risk security hole this in the interests of completeness, but I also have to say I think the odds of anyone going to that amount of hassle just to see if you bookmarked a page on their site are quite remote. And even if they did know what you bookmarked from their site, so what?
Note that there’s no way for a favicon to be used to snoop your other bookmarks, or to see what you bookmark on other sites.
So this is a mostly theoretical problem--- and a tiny one at that.
But the "malformed favicon" issue is more real--- grab the patch, if you haven’t already."
falcon2000--thanks!! Guess I will just have to find something else to worry about. :D
i guess i stand corrected falcon this doesnt apply to ie 6 does it
i just read the link, falcon disregard
asking Frebo-
where did you get a virtualdr. fav icon?
i checked my program settings for favorg /data and could not find any url in there. My icon for virtualdr right now is the ol' familar blue 'e' ..
this file "favorg.zip" seems to be a PC Magazine exclusive where this periodical is asking for about $19.00 from new members and about $14.00 from members before they (PC Magazine) will allow anyone to download anything from their site......SP
[
QUOTE]Originally posted by Welshjim
fflan513--Try this program
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,108438,00.asp [/QUOTE]
SweetPea2001--The post you quote was written over one year ago before PCMag started charging.
You can still get Favorg free from
http://www.pctip.ch/library/downloads/dl.asp?id=1840
It probably would be best to scan with antivirus before opening the file.
ttodd--Below is a VirtualDr Favicon for you. It is now a .jpg since that is what VDr requires to be able to post. Just rename it to vdr.ico.
P.S. There are other VDr Favicons.
When Rambler mentioned about web tracking, I thought maybe my problem is related. (Not really a problem, just curious) About a month ago, I bookmarked this site, Windrivers. Ever since, a persistent icon for Windrivers.com, remains in Favorites. NOT in IE, just in Windows Explorer or from Start-Favorites. It is, I believe, a yellow VBulletin icon. I have moved TIF to another partition, and deleted the old. It's still there. Where is it coming from?
If I open the favorite in Notepad, the last two lines read: IconFile=http://forums.windrivers.com/favicon.ico
IconIndex=1 If I edit any other favorite and add these two lines, the icon will immediately change to the yellow VBulletin icon. Note: If you ever recieved a favicon from any site, the Iconfile=http://......line will be in the favorite. I have many of these, but none, except Windrivers gives me anything but the generic IE icon.
If I change favicon.ico to read favicon.icx, immediately I get the standard blue IE icon. It must be getting it from the web. OK. Rename it so I got the blue IE icon, shut down, turn off power supply, wait 5 minutes, reboot, set ZoneAlarm to 'ask' for all programs listed, rename it back to favicon.ico and immediately the yellow icon is back. ZoneAlarm said nothing. ????
Anyhow, just thought I would mention it. It is not a problem, but I learned a lot about Special Folders trying to track down this little item. By the way, I'm using XP sp1 with all the updates, Spybot, Adaware, SpywareBlaster, and SpywareGuard.
Wow - a blast from the past! I know nothing of this "ZoneAlarm" you speak of earthman, but since it'll be IE components which manage IE favorites, I suspect the connection is allowed?
But, I had ZoneAlarm set to 'ask' if Iexplore.exe wanted to connect. It didn't. Also had a program called TCPview running, and it showed no connections. The icon must be on my computer somewhere, but I can't find it. If I right click the favorite, chose properties, then click change icon, I get what is shown in the attachment below.
I visited a site with its own icon (NOT a favicon) - http://www.experts-exchange.com/ and bookmarked it again. The icon appeared against the favorite. I then deleted the icon from TIF folder, refreshed the Favorites folder in Explorer, and it was still there. HA! I think, and delete ShellIconCache - icon is STILL there. Firewall log shows no access to the website during this process.
Summat's going on here I don't understand, and I shall not rest nor let strong liquor pass my lips (don't believe THAT - Ed.) until I have the answer.
With all due respect, I have not tried to understand the last few posts.
But here is what makes icons for Favorites (Favicons) work.
"Favicons, if a site has one, are downloaded to Temporary Internet Files when you create a Favorite.
The problem is that the Favicons are deleted each time you clean up your TIF.
There are two ways (at least) to make the Favicons permanent. (I wrote this some time ago, so forgive me if I re-cover territory.)
"Favicons
1)You can keep/retrieve those icons with the following procedure.
Create a Favicons folder (like C:\Favicons).
Do a Find on favicon*.ico. Whatever icons you have collected since the last time you deleted your TIF will show up. Each will have the name favicon*.ico where the * is a number. In the Find window right click on an icon and left click on Rename. Give it a name related to whatever site it is the icon for (like, name-of-site.ico). Then drag and drop (or if you have Send To set up) to move or copy the icon to that C:\Favicons folder. Repeat for each icon you want to keep.
Now right click on a Favorite in the Favorites list, click Properties, Change Icon, and in the next window type in C:\Favicons\name-of-site.ico.
Click OK twice,click Apply and OK in the next window. Now that Favorite is permanently associated with an icon in your C:\Favicons folder and you won't lose the icon when you clean your cache.
If you want to go back and get all the old icons you have lost, recreate a Favorite just for the purpose of getting the icon to download again. After going through the above procedure you can delete the new, duplicate Favorite.
2)Use third party program
FavOrg :
http://www.pctip.ch/library/downloads/dl.asp?id=1840
or
http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a...l=1&sp-w=alike
(This program was originally available from PCMag, but they now charge for it. The above link, however, offers it as freeware.) "
There are a very few exceptions to the above. Some sites do not deposit a Favicon in TIF as favicon*.ico but rather as name-of-site.ico, but this is rare. You may find it in the Content.IE5 subfiles. And of course many sites do not deposit any Favicon.
On a related but slightly different subject, sometimes the Favicon, even after being stored permanently, per the above, will not show in the Address bar, although it does show in the Favorites list. At many sites (but not all), you can make the Favicon show in the Address bar by right-clicking on whatever icon is in the Address bar when you visit the site (and after you have stored the Favicon per the above), dragging the icon a little ways and then dragging it back to the Address bar. The page reloads, and if you have been successful the Favicon will show and be permanently retrieved each time you visit the site. Sometimes it take several tries to be successful and at some sites the procedure does not seem to work.
Finally you often can see the Favicon for a site by accessing "www.sitename.com/favicon.ico" <<http://www.sitename.com/favicon.ico>>;. (This URL is here only as an example. It is non-functioning.)
You can then download and use the Favicon as described above.
Hi, Welshjim, I'm was not trying to save a favicon. I always delete TIF and favicons are gone. But this one icon is persistant ONLY in Windows Explorer. I just wondered why it stays. If you click 'Change Icon', it usually reveals the location of the present icon, but this one doesn't. I'll try attaching a sreenshot again. First one didn't work.
moper--Yes, something seems stuck. I get a red cross when I create a Favorite out of www.windrivers.com.
I have seen that yellow checkmark icon you show but cannot remember where.
Have you tried changing the Windrivers Favicon to something else by typing the address (on your PC) for windrivers' (or any other site's) Favicon in the C:\Windows|System32\url.dll line? Then click Apply|OK|OK|OK.
Yes I can change the icon, no problem. It's just that I can make "any favorite" display the yellow checkmark in Windows Explorer by: 1) Open a Favorite in Notepad 2) Add the line: IconFile=http://forums.windrivers.com/favicon.ico
IconIndex=1 3) Click save. Immediately the yellow icon appears. I just thought this is some type of security issue, but like you said, probably somethings stuck, maybe in the Iconcache.
I don't want to go deleting things to get to the bottom of this, because if it isn't broke, don't fix it. I was just curious and wondered if anyone else had this occur.
Note: I also had the "CROSS" icon in Internet Explorer when I first bookmarked that site. That was gone the first day. I delete TIF everyday.
You see that icon everyday. It's on the header of every post. It's from the software, VBulletin, which runs this site. Windrivers is using a new Beta version.
that yellow check is from vr.dr.
I hope noone minds this question. Icon changing is something i would love to do, but have no clue how. I clicked on that jpg above, then i did nothing as i had no clue where to save it etc.
Would anyone mind explaining to a comp dummy how to do it?
Thanks Jeannie
p.s. been reading a lot here, great forum
No one'll mind bluejeanangel - that's what these forums are all about, sharing experiences, tips and fixes with others. We were all "complete dummies" once. I've been in the computer business for many years, and I'm still learning new stuff every day. (I'll be allowed out on my own soon).
Right-click a shortcut and select Properties, then Change Icon. You'll be shown a file where the current icon resides. If there are other icons in there that take your fancy, select one of those. If not, use the Browse button to navigate to a different file containing icons. I suggest Windows\System32\ folder, moricons.dll. progman.exe, shell32.dll for starters (Or any program file you like). Having selected the icon, click on OK to exit the menu.
If you download an icon library (.ICL) file on the 'net, you'll have to change the "Files of type" box to show "All files" to see the file in the selector box.
Bluejeanangel, keep reading here and you will learn a lot. Just to clarify a bit, that JPG you clicked on is nothing more than a picture. You can't do anything with it except, look at it. But it shows what you may see on your computer if you were to follow Ramblers suggestions.
For a little more help, with pictures, click here: http://pages.zdnet.com/hampsi/Articles/decoration.htm
moper
ty rambler and moper,
I am getting braver trying to learn, think I may have just managed to update my bios, lol, so far comp is still working!!!
And the funny thing is I have no clue what a bios is, but hp said i needed it, lol.
Only been playin on comp now for 6 yrs, and just now learning to do something other than play cards at yahoo.
Since disabled, I am trying to learn, maybe I can eventually grad. computer headstart and go to comp kindergarten, and eventually be able to work at home. Anyway it is certainly a new challenge. I go to several forums and been checkin around, this 1 looks the greatest!!! I am off to change icons
Jeannie