SYMPTOM of problem: After placing an item in the shopping cart, the cart says that it is empty and the item is missing. OR, after placing an item in the cart and then going back and placing a second item in the cart, the first item is gone and only the second item remains.

    CAUSE: Microsoft want a privacy policy implemented on all web sites and they want it done their way. The problem is I have a Unix server and every time it tried to follow their instruction to implement it globally on my Unix server, it would crash my server. The other way to implement the privacy policy is to add code to each page, with over 750 pages that is not feasible for me. Because of the Microsoft Internet Explorer defaults to creating a cookie that can not be updated. Since the only reason for having a cookie to to hold information (in this case, the items added to the shopping cart), this creates this problem. I call it broken cookies. What is really bad about this is it DOES NOT prevent the cookies you Don't Want from being created, but it does keep the ones you do want from working!

    SOLUTION: Go to Internet Explorer and do the following:

Find the "Tools" drop-down" and click it to open the list,

1. Click on "Internet Options",
2. Click the "Privacy" tab in the "Internet Options" screen,
3. Drop the slider down one notch, from Medium to Low,
4. Click "Apply" and then "OK"

    This should fix the problem and should not cause any other problems. The cookies you don't want still get created on you computer with the "Medium" setting and you should use a program such as Spybot or Ad-Aware to remove them periodically anyway. So the low setting should not make a difference, even if you don't clean up unwanted cookies. The cookies from my site will only last for 3 days and will then go away. If you are concerned about this lower setting, you can go back and change it back to "Medium" after you are done with your shopping; although I have found that to be unnecessary.

Shopping Cart Problem Caused by AOL

    SYMPTOM of problem: Someone else's address information is in the Shipping/Billing page. This DOES NOT involve credit card information.

    CAUSE: AOL issues you a new IP address every time you sign on and releases it as soon as you sign off (AOL is the ONLY ISP that I know of that does this. All others link the IP address to your computer, usually for 2 weeks, long past the time our cookie is deleted). Since the IP address is the physical address of your computer (such as street address for your house or phone number for you phone), if you log on and get the IP address of some else who has shopped on my site in the last 3 days, the shopping cart will use the shipping information that they entered. THIS ONLY involves the address information and NOT any credit card information. Credit card information is handled separately by the secure processing of my server and is not saved for any future use.

    SOLUTION: Delete the existing information and replace it with your information. You could also disallow cookies and my server will handle the saved information differently, instead of attaching it to your computer IP address; but this is over-kill.

    Call AOL and complain about this. The way they are doing this creates a privacy issue, not just on my web site, but on any web site that saves information.