Getting randomly logged out of websites
I have my preferences to set to keep my logged and save cookies, but lately I have been getting logged out of websites I use regularly such as Reddit, GMail, Yahoo. History is set to clear when I close my browser because I don't need to be reminded that I searched for random words so I could spell them correctly.
This morning for example, I signed into Reddit because I had gotten signed out since last night. Did my reading. Closed my browser. Came back. Opened Reddit again and was signed out. It doesn't happen every time I close my browser. I may stay signed in for a few days with no issue or, like this morning, I don't stay signed in for very long. I even got a message that I wasn't signed in on tab I opened from another tab.
Is this a bug? Some undocumented feature?
It's not all bad though since it keeps me from constantly checking FB which I use 2FA for and hate going through.
All Replies (10)
Type about:preferences#privacy<enter> in the address bar. The button next to History, select Use Custom Settings.
Turn off Always Use Private Browsing Mode Turn on Remember My Browsing And Download History At the bottom of the page, turn on Clear History When Firefox Closes. At the far right, press the Settings button. Turn on ONLY Cache and Form And Search History leaving the others off.
Hi FredMcD,
Thank you for the response. Those are my current settings (pretty much, always have been). I haven't changed anything in a quite a while (months, maybe year(s)). This is a new development.
Modified
Many site issues can be caused by corrupt cookies or cache.
Warning ! ! This will log you out of sites you're logged in to. You may also lose any settings for that website.
- How to clear the Firefox cache {web link}
If there is still a problem, Start Firefox in Safe Mode {web link} by holding down the <Shift> (Mac=Options) key, and then starting Firefox.
A small dialog should appear. Click Start In Safe Mode (not Refresh). Did this help?
While you are in safe mode;
Try disabling graphics hardware acceleration in Firefox. Since this feature was added to Firefox it has gradually improved but there are still a few glitches.
How to disable Hardware Acceleration {web link}
Thanks, I'll try the trusty ol' delete everything and see if that fixes the issue.
Thanks FredMcD - I feel silly not trying that first, but deleting everything has worked so far.
Glad to help. Safe Surfing.
Well, that was not the fix. It lasted less than 5 days. Same behavior, getting signed out of websites at random. Must be a bug in 80.0.1. The release date lines up with then I began experiencing the issue.
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Go to that message, and use the Undo link to its right.
Profile data can be removed or not recorded in several ways;
- 1) Running Firefox in Private Mode (nothing is recorded)
- 2) Privacy settings; (In the address bar,type about:preferences#privacy<enter>)
- 3) Many disk cleaners and anti-virus type programs can remove data from browsers.Open their settings and have them leave the browsers alone.
- 4) Mal-ware.
Thanks FredMcD, I clicked "undo" on the problem solved button. Unfortunately as an IT professional, this is a bug I don't know how to reliably reproduce because there are no direct steps to cause the issue.
I only use private mode when I need to avoid cookies on my machine or don't want the ones I have to be used (news and travel sites, searches). I understand if I use Private Mode and log in to a site, when I close that window, I will logged out because the session data will automatically be removed.
My preferences and privacy settings have not changed. I do not remove cookies or delete data or the cache when exiting FF.
I do not use AV or "disk-cleaners" and I do not have any known malware. If I do have an infection of some kind, it does not generate any unusual network traffic or run any processes that show up. If I did some kind of compromised system, I would simply re-install the OS. Reinstall is more reliable and wastes less time.
At this point, I'll just wait for the next update to FF and cross my fingers that it resolves itself. Getting logged out is annoying (thanks 2FA), but keeps me from randomly browsing email and social media sites and wasting my time.
You can try to create a cookie allow exception with the proper protocol (https:// or http://) for websites you want to remember you.