>From time to time I find that this problem comes back, and right now I can't get rid of it. I do not wish to go through the login dialog. I've checked the box under account settings, Authentication, "Remember login info...". Is there some magic to this? It's a major pain.

By the use of IE, there is no way to bypass the login. You need to login once per IE start in order to gain access to the messages area, to the Universal Thread Magazine and related areas.

You can automate that as per IE automation. There are some samples in the Downloads area for that.

Don't search for the cookie, you won't find it. There is no cookie that gets stored locally. It only resides as per the IE instance in memory. That goes away as soon as you close it.