Yes, this is an alias, and is a response to those who are so critical of those who post under aliases.

I am a long time TER VIP member with many reviews. I have stopped posting under my user name and have stopped reviewing entirely (since reviews are only published under a user name)because of a computer issues that I have not been able to cure.

Specifically, I have found no way to prevent my TER user name from popping up on the log in screen when I log onto TER either from work or from home.  My SE (spousal equivalent) has been snooping around the home computer and I do not want her get to TER and see any activities under my user name.  Work is not such a grave concern, but I would like to remove the automatic screen  from there as well.  Even though neither screen "saves" my password, if anyone else logged onto TER from either computer I would not want them to see a user name and then be able to see activities under that name.

Has anyone successfully been able to stop their computer from showing the usesr name on the TER log-in screen?  How?  I have posted on this before, but have nothing I have tried has worked.  

                             Grayboy

You'll have to get someone else to elaborate on this since I'm definitely no computer genius, but I think if you don't clear the TER cookie then your user name is included in the sign on screen. If TER won't allow you to completely change your user name (I have no idea) then why not just open another account using a different name?

Or you can do what I do and clean your internet history every time you close off-1 click w/WindoWasher and you're done.

Using Internet Explorer 6 or later, go to Tools->Internet Options. In the temporary Internet Files section, click the "Delete Cookies" button. Also, click "Delete Files" and select "off line content". Finally, click "Clear History". I do those three things EVERY TIME I leave my computer. It will remove all files from the temp Internet directory, including the cookie that automatically puts in your login name on TER.

Also, another GREAT idea is to disable "auto-complete" on the URL address bar. That way, if you type "thee", it won't automatically fill in "theeroticreview.com". You disable auto-complete on Tools->Internet Options->Content Tab. Click the "Auto Complete" button, and uncheck all options.

Happy browsing, and these precautions won't cost you a dime.

Wholesale deletion of all cookie files is an instant red flag to any computer savvy snooper that you're hiding your online activities. You need only delete the TER cookie to keep your username from popping up on the login screen. Unfortunately you can't just go into your cookie folder, highlight and delete it. It corrupts the entire contents of the folder and you end up losing all the cookies anyhow. You need a utility that will allow you to pick and choose which cookies to delete and there are several freeware and shareware ones that work fine. Personally, I'm able to do it if I choose through Norton System works. I can display all my cookies and what Internet site they report back to. The TER cookie is a prominent one and is easily spotted and deleted. Be consistent in deleting it and maybe you can post under your real username next time.

Cookies are not always good things. Many computer users I know turn off cookies completely. They promote "spyware" and are not highly secure. For that reason, removing all cookies from your system is a highly defensible position. I would much rather delete them all, then spend time filtering out the ones I want, versus want to delete.

That's also the reason Microsoft and Netscape allow you to easily disable cookies completely. I will continue my habbit of cleaning all cookies when leave my computer... and I have no problem defending that position if I'm ever asked.

By the way, you can selectively disable cookies for individual web sites. Perhaps this is the best answer to your question in the first place. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools->Internet Options->Privacy Tab. Click the "Edit" button to override cookie settings. You can enter the URL of TER in there, and disable cookies just for the TER site.

Thanks for the reply.  I have thought of getting a different account name, but that means I can never access that account name from any computer I want to keep clean.

Thanks.  I'll give it a try.  

Any thoughts on how to do it on Netscape?  I think it's an ancient version.

There's another way to either delete or save specific cookies I use.
First using my computer go to your cookies folder - Windows/Internet/cookies.  Then create another folder inside - I call mine 'Temp'
Next move the cookies you want to save or delete into this folder.
Now you can either delete the cookies in the temp folder, or delete all of the cookies in the cookies folder  thenmove the cookies in the temp folder back inot the cookie folder.  
Using this method, I have never have my remaining cookies or the cookie folder corrupted.  BTW, I'm currently using Windows98
Another thing you can do is use disk cleanup to remove all cookies, temporary internet files and more.  In My Computer, right click on the disk you want to clean, the click on 'Properties' then 'Disk CleanUp' and follow the directions.
Hope this helps!

I have deleted individual cookies with IE6 in the past without corrupting the entire folder at all.  Maybe it's because I use Windows 2000 and always log in with an account with administrator privileges?  Anyway, the TER cookie will look like this.

Cookie:[email protected]/

XXXX is going to be the user you sign in as.  It sounds like you are running an operating system that doesn't allow multiple user accounts or are not taking advantage of this.  If you and your SE have different accounts you can each have your own favorite links, desktops, and cookies/temporary internet files when using the computer.  Tell her that you want to upgrade your computer to XP so that she can use your computer like it is her own.  If she is in the computer industry, you are going to get caught anyway.  If she has started to snoop, she may have even put a hidden keystroke logger on the computer by now

You also need to remove the URL entries from the history file under your user name in the Documents and Setting directory\username\local settings\history.

The culprit is that TER uses cookies.  If you use IE, it's very difficult to accept certain cookies while rejecting others, or to examine those cookies residing on your computer.

I use Mozilla instead, and while I have no need to do what you want, I could, in theory, delete those cookies that are read by TER to populate the login screen with a username, but keep those that allow TER to function properly.  You can't blindly delete and block all cookies for TER because then the site won't recognize that you are logged in.