We were unable to save your preferences

After visiting the MegaMillions website (coincidence?), I kept getting a
small popup window with a title bar that said "Windows Internet Explorer"
and the exact message:

We were unable to save your preferecens. Please try again

The misspelled word and lack of period in the 2nd sentence don't look like
a professional app. It came up randomly but seemed to be related to closing
IE7 tabs. I don't recall setting any website preferences and it came up at
least once after I closed/restarted IE7. I am running Windows Vista.

What might this be?

[Andy L.]

I wish I knew... I am having exactly the same problem, except that it is happening with IE 6. (I am running Windows XP SP3)

I honestly do not think MegaMillions is the cause. However, in my case, it started immediately after loading a large number of Microsoft Updates. More specifically, on Aug 13 2008, I loaded:

• Update for Windows XP (KB951618)
• Security Update for 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB951596)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office Word 2003 (KB954464)
• Security Update for Access Snapshot Viewer 2003 (KB955439)
• Security Update for 2007 Microsoft Office System (KB954038)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003 (KB948988)
• Update for Microsoft Office Outlook 2003 Junk Email Filter (KB955434)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office File Converter Pack 2003 (KB925256)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office 2003 (KB921598)
• Security Update for Microsoft Office Excel 2003 (KB951548)
• Update for Windows XP (KB952287)
• Update for Windows XP (KB951072)
• Security Update for Windows XP (KB950974)
• Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 6 for Windows XP (KB953838)
• Security Update for Windows XP (KB952954)
• Security Update for Windows XP (KB946648)
• Security Update for Outlook Express for Windows XP (KB951066)
• Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool - August 2008 (KB890830)
• Cumulative Security Update for ActiveX Killbits for Windows XP (KB95383

Does anyone know what is going on?

[lakata]

I was visiting news.yahoo.com when this popped up. First time today. It happened 2 or 3 times. It hasn't happened again. I was using Firefox 2.0.0.16, WinXP SP2.

[Andy L.]

lakata, that is very interesting. I was also viewing the Yahoo News Site when I first saw the "We were unable to save your preferecens..." dialog box.

Given the fact that this dialog box appeared in three totally different web browsers, I think there is a high probability that it was generated by the Yahoo.com website -- not by the August 2008 Windows Updates.

Hopefully, Yahoo.com has solved the problem from their end. We will see...

[usmcss]

Also just happened to me about 5 Minutes ago; I just received updates from MS and then went to Yahoo News where the warning popped up.

Semper Fi,

Bob

[silversj]

I am getting it on news.yahoo.com. It looks like they have been hacked.

[UncleDale]

I started getting this message before I installed the latest Windows updates. I only seem to get the message at the Yahoo site.

[figfuggo]

Same happening here. Vista, just installed many Windows updates, happens when I view pages from yahoo. Updated and ran Norton anti-virus; nothing found. Still happens.

[figfuggo]

Update: Installed Norton Anti-bot. Haven't had problem since, but not convinced that Anti-bot had anything to do with it.

[lakata]

The pop-up title says "The page at http://news.yahoo.com says", so it is the webpage that is generating the message and not the browser.

[smatda]

I'm seeing the same message on a Mac OSX box running Firefox.

I'm NOT seeing it on any of my Winboxes running the same browser while viewing the same page....therefore, I'm concluding it's something computer specific...I haven't applied the latest updates on the Windows box. I'm going to see if that makes a difference.

Seeing the same thing here on IE7, WinXP, but only when visiting
Yahoo! News. I've never visited MegaMillions.

[silversj]

It is likely that Yahoo has multiple servers of which only some or one is infected. Therefore, whether you see it depends on which server your page request is routed to.

[smatda]

Every time I go to this page:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080814/.../clinton_obama

on the Mac I get the popup.

I'm yet to get it on the Windows box (even after the updates).

It seems to me that if what you say is true, at some point the Mac box would go to an unaffected server...and the Windows box would go to an affected one....

But right now it's Mac 10, Windows 0.

UPDATE: Just tried it on another OSX box running Safari. It doesn't show up.

[silversj]

The choice of which server you get to might be based, in part, on your IP address. That could make it never happen on some machines. Also, the page served may vary based on browser type to account for differences from one browser to another.