Help -- Cookie appearance problem

OK -- here's the deal,

FACTS:
I have the account on the server as www.moparstyle.NET (http://www.moparstyle.net/) and park www.moparstyle.COM (http://www.moparstyle.com/) and www.moparstyle.ORG (http://www.moparstyle.org/) on it

In the root is a Portal (VBIndex) -- which was freeware a couple of years ago when I installed it -- but it is either now unsupported (I think that's what the deal was when I last looked months ago) or it is no longer free. Anyway -- I've not had a problem with it (until now). There are no cookie settings in the Admin Panel for this.

It is integrated with my forums www.moparstyle.com/forums (http://www.moparstyle.com/forums) -- which is VB3.06 -- that too has not had a problem. The cookie settings are / for the path to save cookies, and the cookie domain is left blank in the Admin CP.

What complicates it a little is that I also use PhotoPost Classifieds 2.0 http://www.moparstyle.net/classifiedads/index.php (http://www.moparstyle.net/classifiedads/index.php) -- which integrates with the VB member database. The cookie settings on this in the Admin has the cookie domain left blank but a cookie prefix of moparstyle

Finally, I use PhotoPost http://www.moparstyle.net/photoalbum/ (http://www.moparstyle.net/photoalbum/) PHP 5.02, which too is integrated into the VB forums. The cookie path is blank, the cookie prefix is bb, and the cookie domain is blank. I don't remember the reason for this -- but there was some problems getting this all to work last year -- and after two days of pulling hair (as I'm again currently doing) that's what was told to me as what it takes to make it work -- and it worked.

THE PROBLEM:

All of a sudden I have this funky problem where if I go to the Portal using the .COM or the .ORG (the parked domains) I'm (and everyone else!) is always logged out. When I log in I'm taken to the forums. When I try to go back to the domain's root using .COM or .ORG -- this nasty cycle continues.

However, doing this with www.oparstyle.NET (http://www.oparstyle.net/) (the actual account) doesn't give me the problem. I've unparked and reparked -- no help.

I have cleared the cookies many times -- No help.

I use the latest update of IE -- and while we can argue the merits of the different browsers another time in another thread, I need to fix this as 96% of my 6,000+ users use IE.

Below is a throw down login to see the problem.

Throw Down User:Test User Password:testing1234

Any idea how to resolve this issue? I've spent many hours trying and failing.

OK -- I did a temporary fix with redirecting www.moparstyle.com to www.moparstyle.net/index.php until I can find the cure.



Those who get to the portal with the address of www.moparstyle.com/index.php will still have the problem.



So even though it isn't properly fixed (still looking for suggestions) you can't duplicate the problem unless you use www.moparstyle.com/index.php

OK - Im still looking into your problem and not sure I can resolve it, but I have some suggestions.

First - pick 1 domain - and build your ENTIRE site on it. Moparstyle.com would be my choice.

Then - do a 301 redirect of each other domain to Moparstyle.com.

This helps search engines find and relate your entire site as one.


----- Ive looked a little further. You do remain logged in - but vbindex does not show it. If you click the forums link, you are in fact logged in. I dont know vbindex well so I cant comment there much. I would suggest trying to upgrade vbindex (and vb as well since the current version is 3.08) and/or reuploading your vbindex files.

I too use vbindex. One of my supermods reported the same problem. I laughed at him and went over to have a beer and a look see. hehe, he was laughing at me then. The problem was real and I was stumped. The big time computer guy jokes flowed.

My biggest saying is, an amature reinstalls windows, a professional fixes it. So it was game on.

I sat back and thought for a moment. After getting over the initial frustration, I started striping the OS of running programs.

Long story short, the problem was Norton Internet security and I could duplicate the problem over and over.

I have found in the last month that Norton, McAfee and AVG anti virus programs are garbage as well. All three can be punched through with Java .jar files infected with viruses. AntiVir does not allow this to happen. I through away a paid copy of Norton and McAfee. I proved AVG was garbage on a friends computer, same senario.

I knew long ago from doing service on the street, Norton Internet Security Center is complete garbage. I uninstall it from every computer I work on when it's there. This cookie thing was the last straw. Norton is Crap. Too bad Peter can't get it right anymore, he used to be "the" guy IMO.

Hope that helps

OK - Im still looking into your problem and not sure I can resolve it, but I have some suggestions.

First - pick 1 domain - and build your ENTIRE site on it. Moparstyle.com would be my choice.

Then - do a 301 redirect of each other domain to Moparstyle.com.

This helps search engines find and relate your entire site as one.


----- Ive looked a little further. You do remain logged in - but vbindex does not show it. If you click the forums link, you are in fact logged in. I dont know vbindex well so I cant comment there much. I would suggest trying to upgrade vbindex (and vb as well since the current version is 3.08) and/or reuploading your vbindex files.

I have built my whole site around the .net domain. The reason is that I use to have .net as the forum and .com for the web sites -- but I merged them years ago. The forums, photos albums, and classifieds are so big -- it was too risky to move it all to a different domain.

Having .com and .org PARKED (I use Cpanel's WHM) on .net is effectively a 301 redirect - and I don't thisnk there's a search engine search issue -- and the google spider live on my site.

I did do a work around by going to my User Cpanel and redirect www.moparstyle.com (http://www.moparstyle.com/) and www.moparstyle.org (http://www.moparstyle.org/) to www.moparstyle.net/index.php (http://www.moparstyle.net/index.php) -- and while that's just a bandaid and not a cure -- it is working.

I might start shopping for a new Portal

The reason I haven't upgraded to 3.08 -- is that I have a kabillion hacks -- and too little time to redo them every week when VB releases a new version. I kinda wait until the new Versons (not revisions) have been out for a month, talk to a couple of friends who wanted to be bleeding edge to make sure they're OK, and then do it and the subsiquent security revisions that follow.

On VBindex -- I was under the impression that it is total unsupported now. On .org I remember people screaming for help when I last read through the posts many months ago. Am I wrong?

I too use vbindex. One of my supermods reported the same problem. I laughed at him and went over to have a beer and a look see. hehe, he was laughing at me then. The problem was real and I was stumped. The big time computer guy jokes flowed.

My biggest saying is, an amature reinstalls windows, a professional fixes it. So it was game on.

I sat back and thought for a moment. After getting over the initial frustration, I started striping the OS of running programs.

Long story short, the problem was Norton Internet security and I could duplicate the problem over and over.

I have found in the last month that Norton, McAfee and AVG anti virus programs are garbage as well. All three can be punched through with Java .jar files infected with viruses. AntiVir does not allow this to happen. I through away a paid copy of Norton and McAfee. I proved AVG was garbage on a friends computer, same senario.

I knew long ago from doing service on the street, Norton Internet Security Center is complete garbage. I uninstall it from every computer I work on when it's there. This cookie thing was the last straw. Norton is Crap. Too bad Peter can't get it right anymore, he used to be "the" guy IMO.

Hope that helps

I too have used Norton products since NU for PC-DOS 3 -- and have System Works and firewall on both computers I tried. However, I'm pretty sure my server guy doesn't use Norton Firewall and had the same problem. I'll verify that.

I hope it can be worked out. If you find another reason for this type problem, please let us know. I like having an arsonal of been there done that's when problems arise.

I'm planning on porting vBIndex to 3.5, but for the obvious reasons, it will not be released. I'm affraid the other portals are not what I'd care to use.

In your case, I think I would recommend upgrading to vBulletin 3.5 as soon as your hacks are converted.

Also - As I said, get everything under one domain. Believe me, it will make things easier. Its also the proper way to do things.

Look at vBadvanced.com for a portal - their CMPS is what I use on all my sites.

Under the test account in both IE and FF I had no cookie issues and stayed logged in just fine.

However, logging out in IE threw an error which was and may be bad code in the navbar. The FF session logged out normal.