No password required?

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Originally Posted by Neil

Stupid question, but why do you need to log out of either. If you just close down or leave the forums you are automatically logged off until you come back on again. This way you don't have to log on each time and from what I understand it all runs faster and smoother for you.

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Neil, as I understand it that is not correct, even though until recently I was under the same impression.

Another forumite (Mini) checked a couple of nights ago whether I was on the forum, forum told him I was, so he sent me a PM. He didn't get an answer till the following morning, mainly because I was safely in bed and both computers switched off! Same thing last night.
When I come back on the forum in the morning, the forum knows exactly when I was on last, however when he checks whether I am on line, the forum tells him I am even though both my computers are switched off.

BS from my understanding, the forum keeps you logged in for an hour from the last visit unless you log yourself out, once that hour is up you are automatically logged out.

I never log out from my laptop or home computer, except for my parents and a friend's computer when I am visiting down in Melbourne when I can't be bothered getting the laptop out and setting it up and can say, like Neil has said there is no reason to log out, I have never had any problems, in fact it's better because everything is ready to go as soon as I open the browser.

The only time you would need to log out is when you're using someone else's computer or when you're using an public one such as in a library or an office and then you shouldn't need to because you will have cleared the cookie and cache before leaving that computer as you should, unless you want someone else seeing where you have been.

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Originally Posted by Neil

Also if you are using Opera or Firefox it could be in the cache memory of the browser rather than the cached memory for the forums but DJ's definitely right.

Stupid question, but why do you need to log out of either. If you just close down or leave the forums you are automatically logged off until you come back on again. This way you don't have to log on each time and from what I understand it all runs faster and smoother for you.

There are no sinister cookies or anything else nasty or evil etc connected to these forums. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to protect our members form all that. We have even made it virtually impossible for members to be spammed or contacted other then through forum channels and all contact info is kept in the strictly and highly confidential.

If anyone gets any nasties from the forums it will be because you have put a web site link, email address or some other contact on the forums which is an open invite to those who would work the system.

Even our PM and internal emails have been cut back to 1 every 4 minutes as a major deterrent to anyone who would abuse the system. Actually came about because some were abusing it.

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Thanks Neil, I am sure that you are doing the best possible in this regard and, indeed, the problems caused by this setup should be minor, including what Big Shed said. Once known what the cause is, it is not a big deal to protect ourselves from the minor additional risk as DJ explained. (Thanks, DJ) I understand that the benefit of overcoming this is not likely to justify the cost of combining the url's.

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Originally Posted by djstimber

BS from my understanding, the forum keeps you logged in for an hour from the last visit unless you log yourself out, once that hour is up you are automatically logged out.

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DJ, there could be a bit of confusion here. If by "logging out" you mean clearing the cookies and needing to log in again when you return, this is not the case. What intrigued me to start with is that what you say (actually, I think it was much less than one hour) was certainly in place before the last changes, so I never felt the need to log off myself.

Since the last change there is no time out period, as you can see by the system letting you in and telling you that "you last visited" days ago.

As regards everything else you say, totally agree. Of course, there is still the small problem of the additional exposure in the remote instance of malicious software being introduced through the server, notwithstanding all the best security precautions, but that is for each of us to evaluate against the benefit of faster access.

Thanks again.

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Originally Posted by djstimber

BS from my understanding, the forum keeps you logged in for an hour from the last visit unless you log yourself out, once that hour is up you are automatically logged out.

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Just to be clear here, when I say automatically "logged out", I mean to say that the forum logs you out as inactive till you reopen your browser which will then automatically relog you as active.

If you look thru the "Who's Online" from the "Quick Links" dropdown menu, it will show active members as online for up to an hour from their last visit.Once that hour is up they disappear from that list

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Originally Posted by djstimber

BS from my understanding, the forum keeps you logged in for an hour from the last visit unless you log yourself out, once that hour is up you are automatically logged out.

I never log out from my laptop or home computer, except for my parents and a friend's computer when I am visiting down in Melbourne when I can't be bothered getting the laptop out and setting it up and can say, like Neil has said there is no reason to log out, I have never had any problems, in fact it's better because everything is ready to go as soon as I open the browser.

The only time you would need to log out is when you're using someone else's computer or when you're using an public one such as in a library or an office and then you shouldn't need to because you will have cleared the cookie and cache before leaving that computer as you should, unless you want someone else seeing where you have been.

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Well, that explains it then, because Mini checked whether I was online within an hour of me switching the computer off.

Like you, I never log off (unless on someone else's computer), as I was under the impression that it wasn't necessary, which has now been confirmed. Just didn't know about the hour.

BTW I wish to dispell any thoughts that I am checking on people. There was a good reason to know if Big Shed was on line and it had nothing to do with the forum. We have a private chat system between us and it was telling me Fred was off line and the chat system was telling me he wasn't and I wanted to confirm what was going on.

I am at the moment using my brothers two computers and the first day I logged in I purposely didn't check the remember me box because I didn't want the cookie on my brothers computers but the computers have remembered me for the last four days. One is using Firefox and the other is using IE6 so something has changed.

Sorry to insist, but there is still something wrong here. I refrained from mentioning it again in the past couple of days because I was worried that I had forgotten to log off properly and wanted to be sure not to make a fool of myself.

Logging off works during the day, but when I log off at night and come back on line in the morning, the system has me as logged in. The only logic explanation I can come up with is that there is a daily backup procedure sometime in the early hours of the morning that incorrectly restores cookies.

Quite likely not malicious, but still a system problem I believe.

I have tried to duplicate your problem, but for the life of me - can't.

I cleared all personal data from Firefox, and logged out which cleared the cookies. Tried reentering the URL(s) (remember there is more than 1 possible one to use to access these forums), tried rebooting, tried each different way that I normally use to enter the forums, all either showed me as a guest, or refused entry (the administrator-only areas).

The only thing that did occur was my browser filled in my Username and Password ready for me to log in, as I have these saved in my browser's "Remember Passwords For Sites" option.

So as far as I can tell, the problem is not at the server end.

Have you turned off the "Remember Password For Sites" in Firefox under the Tools>Options>Secuity Tab

Just a thought I haven't read the full post suggestions:no:
If it has been suggested I appologise in advance:roll:

Think someone around here might have mentioned it ...... :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Stuart.

Think someone around here might have mentioned it ...... :rolleyes:

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Should have read your post Stuart I just glanced
and well checked mine out then posted
The honour is all yours sir

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Originally Posted by Stuart.

I have tried to duplicate your problem, but for the life of me - can't.

I cleared all personal data from Firefox, and logged out which cleared the cookies. Tried reentering the URL(s) (remember there is more than 1 possible one to use to access these forums), tried rebooting, tried each different way that I normally use to enter the forums, all either showed me as a guest, or refused entry (the administrator-only areas).

The only thing that did occur was my browser filled in my Username and Password ready for me to log in, as I have these saved in my browser's "Remember Passwords For Sites" option.

So as far as I can tell, the problem is not at the server end.

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Stuart, nothing of the above disproves my hypothesis. At what time is the server backed up? Try ensuring that you are logged off before that time and do not try to log on until the next morning. If the system thinks you are logged on then, you have duplicated the problem. If it does not, there is still the possibility that a software glitch in the backup procedure is affecting only a certain part of the database that includes me and not you.

Anyway, not to waste your resources unnecessarily, just let me know if after that you still can't reproduce the problem, and I will get somebody to sort out my end beyond doubt before making further suggestions. BTW, I only use plain vanilla Microsoft software with CA virus protection, no fancy firewalls etc.

If anybody else besides you reproduces the problem in the meanwhile we both have saved unnecessary work.
Thanks
Frank