Looking for flash cookies (or .sol files)

Good day, all
Earlier this year I found out about Flash cookies (the .sol files). I didn’t like the idea so when I quit Safari I would run a search for .sol and then delete them all. Up until now I was using 10.3.9 for the OS and the 4 year old version of Safari.
Last weekend I up dated to 10.5.8 for the OS and 4.0.2 for Safari as I was concerned about security. (All went smooth and they work fine. Thanks to all that gave advice on how to do this!)
Now when I quit Safari and run the search for .sol I don’t get any files ending in this. I’m not keen on Spotlight yet, but I assume if I put in .sol it will return anything with .sol in it, or ending with it. Perhaps I am wrong on this?
I looked in the forums and found a post from Klaus1 that said where to look for .sol files and traced down the spot. He wrote: “In Mac OS X they are stored in the following location:
/User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects.
On my Mac, the directories are a bit different from this, but I found a #SharedObjects folder but it had no files ending in .sol and I found a whole lot of empty folders under /flashplayer/sys that reflect websites I’ve been to (#www.4kidstv.com) but still no .sol files.
So my question is: am I failing to find them? Or are they being deleted automatically? (I doubt it) Or are they in some new format that doesn’t end in .sol?

Thanks,
Hugh

Ibook G4 14, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 30, 2009 11:16 PM

Reply
7 replies

Oct 1, 2009 12:28 AM in response to Hugh Piercy

Hi Hugh

Rather than attempting to find those files, I suggest you lock the Shared Object folder. This precludes any Flash cookie info from being written to your HD.

To do so, go to the Finder and navigate to the Macromedia folder - Your User Account>Library>Preferences folder. Continue drilling down to the Shared Objects folder. Now, simply move to the trash the contents of the Shared Objects folder. Once the folder is empty, click on the Shared Objects folder, Command/I to open its Info panel and click on the Locked option, then close the panel.

From here on out, no information will be written to that file. I did this awhile ago and have not had any adverse effect from locking the folder.

This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Looking for flash cookies (or .sol files)

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.