To: Internet Explorer 6 General - 31-Dec-05

Subject: Win 98/IE6 Dial-up won't remember password

Used to work fine, 'til about a month ago or so.
Tried all but password in Win 98 (DELL) dial-up connect dialog box
won't be remembered - except once in a great while.

I should note that the "Save Password" and "Connect Automatically"
check boxes on dial-up box were dimmed; so couldn't tick either one.
I also made a new connection, but no help.

My current home page is Google. It always comes up before the dial-up box,
after click I/E6 link. In past, had trouble with this too, because sometimes
the dialup box didn't screen. Had to enter a search term in google and click
'search' before the system would attempt to go on the net and finally bring
up the dial-up in the process. But that problem went away quite some time ago.

However, I did just find at least partial solution of sorts (I think) to
the 'no
remember password' problem. Those w/ similar problems might get something
out of this. In meantime, am hoping for a proper solution from some
knowledgeable and generous reader here.

To get some answers, I ran a number of diagnostics. One of these
seemed to have some effect.

I clicked: Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Information
- and then 'Tools' and 'Internet Explorer Repair Tool'. Then that tool did
its thing and later asked for re-boot.

After re-boot, the "Save Password" check box went active. Ticked it, entered
password in entry box, then clicked 'settings' (connections tab comes up),
then clicked 'settings tab' and again entered password in 'dial-up settings'
there for storage.

In regard to what happened next, I should first point out that:

(1) the dimmed "Connect Automatically" tick box activated right after I
ticked
the "Save Password" check box and (2) it didn't matter if "Save Password"
was ticked before or after the password was entered in the dial-up box.

Now, if I toggled between the dial-up box and the 'settings' tab at it (to
double-
confirm my settings), the password disappeared in the 'settings' and vise
versa.
That is, things were so bad, it wouldn't even remember the password from
menu to menu and back!

Finally I entered password again at the dial up and clicked "connect",
thinking
that going on-line first might finally do the trick. After disconnect, no
such luck.
Back tosquare 1, almost, except that now I could at least 'tick' the "Save
Password" box (which became and remained active after the Explorer tool run)..

------

At this point I still believe that the latest Win 98 update I downloaded from
Microsoft, might be doing this purposely for some kind of 'security' reason.

Next and just in case, I re-booted again to, hopefully, save settings.

Big mistake. After re-boot, the "Save Password" check box came up dimmed
(de-activated) again and I couldn't restore it.

Finally I ran the Explorer Repair Tool again, re-booted and, lo & behold,
we're
back in business again. The dial-up box came up with the password in it !
Went on net briefly, twice, and still holding; but I wonder for how long.

I don't know what Windows Explorer has to do w/ IE6 but I guess it must have
some interaction because, I believe, they are at least partly integrated.
Maybe
that's why running the Explorer tool seems to help.

------

So what could the matter be?

NOTE: I have several popular free anti-virus scanners and over a dozen anti-
malware types. Keep updated and run 1 or 2 once a day. System is clean. So
don't think the problem lies there. On the other hand, some of these aps
clear caches and some settings when run. Could be something to that...

Any suggestions, anyone?

--
Ted...