Personal Favorites List Shrinks

[Happy Trails]

Sometimes when I start IE6 and click on favorites, the list is
suddenly very short, and sometimes pages I know I just viewed are not
there. What kind of (not) logic does IE6 use to poulate this list, or
is there something messing with my history or list?

Is there anything I can control going on here, like keep entries in
this list if they have been used at all in the last month?

 

[Happy Trails]

Sometimes when I start IE6 and click on favorites, the list is
suddenly very short, and sometimes pages I know I just viewed are not
there. What kind of (not) logic does IE6 use to poulate this list, or
is there something messing with my history or list?

Is there anything I can control going on here, like keep entries in
this list if they have been used at all in the last month?

-populate-?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You're describing how Personalized Favorites works: "The Personalized
Favorites Menu feature adapts the Favorites menu in Internet Explorer to the
way you work by displaying the Internet shortcuts you use most often and
hiding those that you use less frequently."

If you open Favorites (via the topmost toolbar, called the Menu bar) and
wait a few seconds (or click on the downward-pointing double-arrow), the
full list should be displayed.

To disable this feature: IE Tools | Internet Options | Advanced | Browsing |
Enable personalized favorites menu <=uncheck this option & reboot for good
measure.

 

[Happy Trails]

You're describing how Personalized Favorites works:

Obviously I know all that.

What I want to know is how does IE6 determine what is a "favorite"
favorite?

And why did my personal favorites list suddenly become a list of only
4 items instead of the usual 10 - 20?

And is there any way I can say keep a minimum of say, 20, in the
personal favorites list, no matter how long I go on vacation for?

PS: My full list of favorites has about 70 - 80 sites stored.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

The feature "learns" as you use IE.

Only 4 items are showing initially now because you haven't accessed the
other 10-20 *in Internet Explorer* recently.

There is no way to set a minimum. If you go away for, e.g., 7 days and the
computer is not used while you're away, the feature will act like you've
never been away when you come home and turn on the computer.

IOW WYSIWYG. If you don't like it, disable it.

 

[Happy Trails]

The feature "learns" as you use IE.

Only 4 items are showing initially now because you haven't accessed the
other 10-20 *in Internet Explorer* recently.

There is no way to set a minimum. If you go away for, e.g., 7 days and the
computer is not used while you're away, the feature will act like you've
never been away when you come home and turn on the computer.

IOW WYSIWYG. If you don't like it, disable it.

=============

Okay - so what I asked is "HOW" does it "learn".

There are some I have accessed recently, but are not in the short
list. This is puzzling. I am wondering if some obnoxious software
somewhere has altered my short list ???

I am wondering how I might alter the short list.

I asked if anyone knows what the rules are for learning. You
obviously do not, so I don't understand why you are posting responses.

You say that other things are not in the short list because I haven't
accessed them recently. Then you contradict this notion by saying if
I go away for a week it will disregard this passage of time.

This makes little sense to me, which is why I posted in the first
place.

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

It "learns" from your actions and from the real-time content of Temporary
Internet Files folder (so if you make a habit of emptying this folder
frequently or have configured IE to empty it when closing, that's
interfering with the "learning").

Any sort of "infection" (hijackware; virus; Trojan; adware) can interfere,
too, as can any number of anti-spyware applications.

You cannot alter the "short list." You cannot configure it to do anything
other than what it's programmed to do.

To learn more about how IE ticks, consider taking a course or two. Do a
search on "MCE training" and/or "MCSA training".

 

[Happy Trails]

It "learns" from your actions and from the real-time content of Temporary
Internet Files folder (so if you make a habit of emptying this folder
frequently or have configured IE to empty it when closing, that's
interfering with the "learning").

Any sort of "infection" (hijackware; virus; Trojan; adware) can interfere,
too, as can any number of anti-spyware applications.

You cannot alter the "short list." You cannot configure it to do anything
other than what it's programmed to do.

To learn more about how IE ticks, consider taking a course or two. Do a
search on "MCE training" and/or "MCSA training".

You have shed no light whatsoever on this problem.

I should take a course and learn to evade the question like you?

Just now I started IE up after 1 day, and it has 2 entries in the
personal favorites list.

I looked at about 22 sites in the past week, including about 8
favorites.

Does anyone besides PooBear think he knows what's going on?

Does anyone besides PooBear post answers here?

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

You have shed no light whatsoever on this problem.

I should take a course and learn to evade the question like you?

Just now I started IE up after 1 day, and it has 2 entries in the
personal favorites list.

I looked at about 22 sites in the past week, including about 8
favorites.

IE Tools | Internet Options | Advanced | Security | Empty Temporary Internet
Files folder when browser is closed: Checked or not?

IE Tools | Internet Options | General | Temporary Internet Files | Settings
| Disk space to use (number?); Days to keep pages in history (number?)

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

Has a Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on this machine
(e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought it)?

Any "Registry cleaners" installed which load at boot (e.g., CCleaner;
RegCure; Registry Mechanic; Registry Booster)?

IE General newsgroup (more traffic here):
news://msnews.microsoft.com/microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general

 

[Happy Trails]

IE Tools | Internet Options | Advanced | Security | Empty Temporary Internet
Files folder when browser is closed: Checked or not?

no check

IE Tools | Internet Options | General | Temporary Internet Files | Settings
| Disk space to use (number?); Days to keep pages in history (number?)

3668; just changed from 20 to 30 days

What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your
subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?
What third-party firewall (if any)?

AVG free; no anti-spyware; windows firewall (xp-sp3)

 

[PA Bear [MS MVP]]

Tip: Set "Disk space to use" to 100MB or lower for optimal performance.