Can't stay logged in

Greetings,

For the last couple of weeks, I can't seem to stay logged into DG. It automatically logs me out each time I leave. I'm using Foxfire and I did not make changes to my settings. Was there something changed in one of Foxfire's recent updates?

Ann

I'd go into your preferences and make sure you're set up to allow cookies (or at least accept them here if you're not comfortable allowing them in general). I don't have the same browser as you do, but I think in FF and IE it's under "tools" and then "preferences" or "options" or something along those lines. No idea how the settings got changed but it sounds like that's what's going on.

It IS set to select cookies, though not third party cookies (but it never was set to accept third party cookies). And it it NOT set to clear my data when I exit Firefox. Is there something else that should be set?

Should I, perhaps, be asking this in the Computer forum?

That probably wouldn't hurt since nobody has any other ideas--the only other thing I can think of is to reboot the computer and see if it still happens. I don't have Firefox so I can't go into the preferences and look at what else might have got set wrong to make this happen but I bet you the people on the computer forum will have some thoughts.

I don't think it's a Firefox update, because I've downloaded all the updates and I'm not having that problem. Maybe posting on the computer forum would be a good idea.

Okey, dokey. I'll try that. The computer gets rebooted every morning; so that's not going to help. I'm just getting tired of having to log in every time I forget and close the DG window.

Ann

I'm having the same problem.

lakeside have you always had the problem or is it a new one?

It started yesterday.

And have you checked your cookie settings? I would guess you have if you read the earlier part of the thread here, but figured I'd throw it out there just in case...

I made a change to our login system yesterday in response to a strange bug that Terry found and reported to me.

Consequently, you may have temporary problems with logging in or staying logged in, but those are temporary. They will go away on their own, or you can clear your cookies and then login again and that should solve the problem immediately.

Will try again if the changes were made yesterday. But my problems started awhile ago.

ViolaAnn, I don't believe that your issue is related to anything that I've done, however, the changes I made may in fact fix your problem. I revamped the entire login system. I'll be curious to know whether your problem goes away after you clear out your cookies.

Cleaned out my cookies, opened DG and logged in, closed it (but didn't log out) and went away to do something else. Still had to log in when I returned. Very strange, because all my settings are the same as they were (I think).

Ann

Ann,

It sounds like your computer has been configured to clear your cookies on your behalf every time you close your browser (this is a fairly common "security" setting). Clearing cookies effectively logs you out, and I bet that this is the cause of your being logged out like that.

Might be, but I didn't set it that way and it USED to keep me logged in. I know that Firefox isn't set that way because I've checked it. Go figure. I know the password. :-)

Ann

Are you using a saved link to get to DG? If yes, you might try deleting that link, open DG and sign in, then re-save the link. I had a problem like this on another site and that cleared it. Good Luck!

Interesting thought. I'll see what happens tomorrow. This time I went back to Google and got in that way. I guess the test is when I open it up the next time.

And here I have been trying to figure out what sort of "bug" I had in this system. Go away for 1 day and Dave fixed it! Never crossed my mind it could be anything but my problem!

Well, I still have to log in.

ViolaAnn, your browser is definitely dropping your cookies. I checked the system logs and your browser is showing a clearing of the cookies.

Last night at 4:11am (UTC time) you hit your last page. Then this morning at 12:44pm (UTC) you hit the site again but all your DG cookies were gone.

So, the problem definitely resides in the fact that your cookies are being deleted.

Check your system time and make sure that it's set correctly, and also if you have ZoneAlarm or other "Security" or firewall type program, that would likely be the culprit. Often they are set to delete your cookies as a lot of people falsely believe that this is a good thing for security (it's not. Cookies are harmless).

Darn, I thought I had it licked, but I was wrong.

Dave, some of the cookies are expiring at the end of session. Probably not ones we need for signing in, though?
__utmc


This message was edited Feb 21, 2009 3:19 PM

And there have been frequent updates lately. Mine's been fine thus far though...

Well, Dave. I checked my system time. It's fine. I checked the Windows firewall settings. Nothing there to indicate it's not accepting cookies. I changed the settings to be slightly less secure and I put in DG as one sight from which to accept things. I still get logged out every time I leave DG. So far, at least. Was working all afternoon in an orchestra rehearsal and have two more tomorrow; so I won't be on the computer so much for a couple of days.

Ann

I think what Dave was trying to say is that your cookies are being deleted/cleared out, which is different than not allowing them in the first place. Since I don't have the same browser you do I don't know if there's something in the browser settings that controls that or if it's some other piece of software on your computer that's doing it--hopefully someone who has a PC can give you some better help.

Try this:

With the Firefox browser open, click on:
Tools
Options
Advanced
Make sure that 'Remember Password for sites' IS checked

Then click on Privacy from the same screen and make sure 'Always clear my private data when I close Firefox' is NOT checked.

Then click on the settings button beside the private data box and make sure 'cookies' and 'saved passwords' are NOT checked.

Try this:

With the Firefox browser open, click on:
Tools
Options
Privacy
Click show cookies.

Remove the DG cookies. Or remove all cookies. Then OK.

Sign into DG, it will set a cookie.
After that you should be signed in automatically each time.

This finally worked for me.

Edit: Well, the above is working for all other websites, and it worked a little while for DG, but is not working any longer.
Perhaps because some cookies expire at the end of each session?
Frustrating....

This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 8:05 PM

Well, there's progress. I've checked all the settings as suggested above. At least now, the password and user name are all there ready to click on "go" or whatever the button says. But it still logs me out every time I close Firefox. Still, much easier than it was.

Ann

Ann, you know when you start to type in the URL (Daves...) you sometimes get a dropdown list? Well, on my dropdown list there is a DG rose and the words You are now logged in. If I use that to get to Daves, I don't have to sign in....

Is DG set as your home page in Firefox? If so, when you first start the Firefox browser, does it start at the DG page that says 'Welcome Home ViolaAnn', or at the log-in page?

I'm kinda at a loss here as to why you are getting logged off.

I'm thinking that isn't a Firefox issue, but perhaps a windows issue? Have you changed anything there? I know that if I use a public or work computer I have to make sure I physically log-out of DG every time or it would allow the next person to use that computer to be logged in as me if they checked out or happened upon DG.

Lakeside - using Firefox, the URL for DG is always one of the selections. That's how I always get here.

Joan, I haven't changed anything, but there are always updates going on. But tomorrow, just for kicks, I'll use IE instead of Firefox and see what happens.

Anyway, it's not really a big deal if all I have to do is to click. Besides, i get to see the articles that show up before one is logged in.

I'll mess around with things later in the week. Have been really busy with orchestra rehearsals all weekend and still have one tomorrow before the concert tomorrow evening.

Ann

Another thought - Firefox lately has been asking whether I want to save the pages I've just had open and I generally say "no" because I rarely go back to exactly the same page, but it may well have something to do with it. I'm trying saving them and it DID bring me back to DG.

Joan, No, I have my family web site as the home page. I could try making it DG and see what happens.

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Now I'm in using IE. I haven't used it in so long that I had to type the URL, but I WAS still logged in. That would rule out Windows as the root of the problem.

This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 11:00 PM