Constantly logging in

[DellParticipant @dell]

Does anyone else have to login every time they go onto forum ? , I have tried various other browsers all the same.

Dell

[DellParticipant @dell]

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

If you login, and tick the "remember me" box, it only trakes one ckick as the sytem remebers your details.

Howard

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

If only it were true

MichaelG.

[VicParticipant @vic]

Posted by Michael Gilligan on 07/03/2023 17:19:36:

If only it were true

MichaelG.

Agreed.

[Martin King 2Participant @martinking2]

Seconded! I sometimes have to log in several times a day……

Martin

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

And I thought it was only me !

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

There's an intermittent problem with staying logged in that seems to effect some people but not others, and occurs in clusters. Doesn't seem to be related to a particular browser or operating system.

One possibility is that the web server is load shedding, creating more space for active users by logging out inactive ones. Unlikely because that wouldn't explain the cluster effect.

That a few individuals are effected repeatedly suggests a problem on their computer, not on the server. Logging in creates a cookie on the client computer that the server reads and uses to bypass the password stuff. Anything that invalidates the cookie, which is the key to a lock, will cause trouble, such as:

• cookie corrupted, and because it exists, cannot be overwritten by a new one until it time expires
• user deletes cookies, or the browser is configured not to accept them (a security setting)
• anti-virus software decides the cookie is malware and deletes it
• the computer's clock is wrong, perhaps temporarily at the start of a session because the BIOS battery is flat. Login cookies are timestamped, valid only within a narrow period, and the clock being wrong will stuff it it up.
• incompatibility because the computer software is out-of-date

My feeling is the problem is time related in some way because individuals suffer an outbreak of login problems that mysteriously self-correct. Could be due to an upgrade taking effect, or a broken cookie being replaced after it's expired.

Also, the saved login only works on one computer at a time. Logging on my laptop logs me off my workstation, and vice versa.

As a computer professional, I was trained to always log out at the end of each session, no exceptions. Partly because the computers of my youth weren't man enough to handle lots of logged in users, but mainly because open logins are a massive security loophole, and allowing them creates a bad habit. Safe enough on the forum, but never walk away from a computer logged into your bank!

Just keep logging in, and I expect sooner or later, the remember will start working again. Or do what I do, and avoid the facility because it's double-edged.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 07/03/2023 18:07:17

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Clearing your browsing bhistory will erase any log in details, so that you nhave to log in again

Maybe you are set up to clear when you log off the machine?

Howard

[Paul LousickParticipant @paullousick59116]

Automatic log in is intermittent. Sometimes works for days, weeks then have to do it manually ?????

[DellParticipant @dell]

I don’t agree that it’s our end because it is the same whatever device I am using , iPhone, iPad Mac, or pc, I have pc on my Mac, it’s just frustrating that even if I don’t close the tab but just check an email that has just come in and then go back to forum I still have to login again, I have had instances where it looks like I am still logged in I have written a post click to post and then it comes up saying you need to be logged in to do this , so I login and loose the post and have to start again.

Dell

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Posted by Dell on 08/03/2023 08:42:02:

I don’t agree that it’s our end because it is the same whatever device I am using…

Dell

And Dell could well be right! Whatever the cause, and there may be more than one, it's a key and lock problem. The key is stored on the client computer and the lock is stored on the server. If either end malfunctions, for any reason, the login breaks. Not impossible for servers to go wrong, but most problems occur on the network or at the client end. It's because the server is tightly controlled, probably locked away in a computer room, rarely touched, and maintained by professionals. (Who are a bit less likely to cock-up than amateurs, fingers crossed!)

In comparison, client computers vary wildly, often poorly maintained (out-of-date), loaded with dodgy software, and fiddled with by their owners! But even if the client is in perfect working order, the server has to cope with a wide variety of configurations : Dell listed iPhone, iPad Mac, and pc. I use W10, and two different Linux distros.

Of being logged out, it might be possible for a user to fix one of the problems I listed, self-help might save the day.

I have no inside knowledge of the server, but last time I probed it, the Forum application was hosted by Microsoft IIS, running on Microsoft Windows (Server), hosted by a reputable provider. Nothing avant-garde or unreliable about the arrangement: the forum software is perhaps a little old-fashioned, but that's unlikely to be the problem.

The other suspicious component is the network, and 'I have had instances where it looks like I am still logged in I have written a post click to post and then it comes up saying you need to be logged in to do this , so I login and loose the post and have to start again.' reminded me of my early experience of the forum.

I joined the forum with a 10Mb/s ADSL connection, and was often logged out. It paid to reduce the size of photographs before uploading them because sending big photographs often failed. The network assuming packets will arrive within a reasonable time, and it can mistake a slow connection for a fault, which it handles by dropping the link. As the speed of the network varies depending on what the neighbours are doing, slow connections are much more likely to trip-out than fast ones. Since upgrading to 50Mb/s I rarely get logged out, though it happened for the first time in months yesterday! I share your pain!

Intermittent problems are always difficult to pin down, and this one is four-dimensional; something wrong in the client, or the network, or the server, or time related.

The only thing I'm certain of is it's not caused by members doing anything silly. And extra annoying when simple things that should work, don't, and no-one seems to be able to fix it…

Sorry

Dave

[Roger BestParticipant @rogerbest89007]

My login times out after several days.

All my social stuff never needs a fresh login, all things involving money require one every time.

This site is the only thing that has this property, with the exception of Practical Machinist, which seems to have a longer wait period but is also pretty strict on low use.

There must be something about metalworkers.

[Rob McSweeneyParticipant @robmcsweeney81205]

I get logged out (despite ticking the box to stay logged in

after a variable interval of anything between a couple of hours and 2-3 days, both on my phone and on the computer.

[Anonymous]

Don't know whether this is related but:

I have several sites (e.g. local drugstore chain) which often invokes two factor login because I am "using a different computer to log in than I normally use". I always log in from the same computer though.

I've discovered that this happens whenever the browser (Firefox) updates. Apparently that changes the "signature" of my machine.

(Even on the ESR channel Firefox updates about once a week these days – heaven knows how often the regular channel, which is little more than beta-test, updates.)

I know this site dumps your login every time you change machines …. perhaps this effect is related?

[Author]

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