Loading Yahoo Mail in a private browsing window causes Firefox to jump back to a non-private window
Using Firefox 24 on Windows 7 or XP. I first start Firefox, then load a private browsing window using ctrl-shift-P. Then I load the Yahoo Mail login page (mail.yahoo.com). As soon as the Yahoo Mail page loads, Firefox will automatically switch back to the non-private window that I was using prior to creating the private window. If I later close the private window and open a new private window, this may or may not happen again depending on what page I am on in the normal window (while filling out this question it would not duplicate the problem, but as soon as I submitted the question and a new page loaded, the problem reappeared).
Modified by quattj
All Replies (7)
Yahoo Mail requires the use and saving of cookies.
Private browsing turns off the collection of cookies and disables the use of any previous cookies.
Unfortunately, Yahoo Mail will not allow you to use Firefox in Private browsing.
Sorry for any inconvenience. Thank you for using the Mozilla Support Forum.
Are there any Flash plugins used in the main window?
That can be a possible cause to shift the focus back to that window.
"Unfortunately, Yahoo Mail will not allow you to use Firefox in Private browsing. "
No, Yahoo Mail works perfectly fine in private browsing mode. I just have to click back to the private window (which does not close, only loses focus) when it happens and then can log in normally. It only occurs when first loading the login screen, which may have flash plugins loaded with certain ads? It seems to be related either to recent updates to Firefox or recent updates to Yahoo Mail.
Mainly I posted this for informational purposes so it can be checked out. Is there a better place to report it? It did not happen in older versions of Firefox (though I am not sure how far back you have to go version-wise for it to not happen). I still have Firefox 3.6.28 on one machine and this issue does not occur.
Modified by quattj
You can report Firefox bugs here.
I was told by Yahoo that the mail page did not work in Firefox private browsing.
I have this same problem with yahoo and it is very annoying. There are no flash plug ins running on my "non-private" window. I am running no-script as an ad-on in Mozilla which could be a contributor. When I get pushed to the new window I can always go back to the "private" window containing the loaded yahoo mail page and browse successfully.
@mikemaher83
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Your issues sounds like it involves the NoScript add-on. Please try using the Yahoo Mail page with this add-on disabled.
It is not related to no-script. It happens with or without no-script installed. I ran across a few other pages where this happened as well, but had not taken note of them. I have had it happen using various new versions of Firefox (now including v25) on many different computers. It is a problem with how Firefox handles window focus with private browsing under specific circumstances.
I tried to post a bug report on bugzilla, but I think it got sucked into the internet void, as I can not find it on the bugzilla forum nor under any of my account options.