Description of the issue: - I today I found 3 cookies from an identifier ghmbeldphafepmbegfdlkpapahbakde. Realising that this is a randomly generated identifier I was concerned and deleted immediately, then it came back…and so it has gone on through the whole day with me deleting and it reloading immediately. I am very concerned and would be grateful for your earliest advice as to whether I have a major security issue. Steps to Reproduce (add as many as necessary): 1. 2. 3.
Actual Result (gifs and screenshots are welcome!):
Expected result: Advice as to what may be causing this and whether I have a security issue.
Reproduces how often: As soon as I delete the cookies, they reappear.
Operating System and Brave Version(See the About Brave page in the main menu): MacOS 15.5 (24F74), Brave version Brave 1.79.119 (Official Build) (arm64) Additional Information:
Please edit your Original Post (“OP”) above, in order to remove the line:
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and everything ABOVE that line.
Your concern about “ghmbeldphafepmbegfdlkpapahbakde” . . . such a string of characters may be a Brave Browser Component or an extension ← that you may have added → In a Brave Browser New Window, go to: brave://extensions and see if some extension has that “ghmbeldphafepmbegfdlkpapahbakde” character string as its ID?
On your Mac, using the Finder, locate the “BraveSoftware” folder at: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware ← Search therein (all levels of sub-folders), for a folder named “ghmbeldphafepmbegfdlkpapahbakde” ← it may be some obscure sub-folder, somewhere.
Brave Browser Components have similar names, and those components’ folder names, you will see in the “Brave-Browser” folder at: /Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/BraveSoftware/Brave-Browser/ Example:
Hi, SO very grateful for your response and expertise; this has rather unnerved me. I am recalling more about when it began, I was loading a PW manager extension from an online security and privacy company from which I have a number of products. The page which came up to show me it was loaded and functioning included a YoutTube screenshot and link to show me how to use the capability. I did not open it, but the cookies appeared thereafter and, upon clicking on the icon, it ways they are three cookies from youTube “partitioned”. I have just deleted the extension, but still the cookies keep loading as soon as I delete them.
Any ideas??? As I say, very concerned about this and hugely grateful for advice.
In a Brave Browser New Window, go to: brave://settings/clearBrowserData and for each of the 3 tabs (Basic, Advanced, On exit), clear cache and cookies. For the Basic and Advanced tabs, be sure to clear for All time.
You must click on the Delete data button or Save button (if it shows), in order to save the settings. You can always return later, and adjust the settings as you wish.
And then exit / quit everything, and Restart your computer.
You can use the Brave Browser > Developer Tools > Application [tab ← sort of] window in order to monitor sources of cookies. In order to display Developer Tools, use key combination of Command + Option + I ← that is letter “I”. In the window, over on the left, see Cookies.
Some websites will send a lot of cookies to an Internet application. You may have the option to delete cookies (remove them, block them) . . . and sometimes, you may not be able to keep cookies (not able to maintain their keep, aboard an Internet application). A lot of Internet application users, are unaware that the website also has a say in it ← meaning, they DO NOT want the visitor to remain logged in!
You may also click on the Tune icon
and scroll down to Cookies and site data to seem more, re Cookies.
Re YouTube, I have more luck, using Brave Browser Private Browsing (Private Windows). I do not have a Google eco-system account (no YouTube account, for example) and that may be why I have less troubles with YouTube visits.
I have done as you directed and, YEAAA, upon reopening Brave there was nothing in the cooky jar, no cookies at all.
I shall now get down to revisiting my usual sites and logging in etcetera again.
Probably almost comical to an expert such as yourself, but I am about as far from that as you can imagine and this caught me by surprise, “got inside my head”.
I am immensely grateful to you for your time and expertise.
