Why are my websites logging out?

January 5, 2020 9:19 AM

Something has changed in my Macbook OS 10.14.06 running Firefox 71.0 that causes some of my websites to log out when the computer shuts down or goes to the main log in screen. Formerly sites like Gmail and NYTimes were always logged in. Now I must frequently log in with user name and password. How can I reset the computer to prevent this?
posted by partner to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Did you reset your browser cookies? Do those sites remain logged in now that you have re-logged in once? You say "frequently", but the vague nature of that observation doesn't help troubleshoot unfortunately. Were you using chrome logged into a google account, that's logged out now?

So what you're dealing with is end of session issues when you leave the Mac user environment. For you to be logged in when you return with a new session, the website needs to set a cookie. You usually have to tell the website to do this. Usually a checkbox on the login page.

This is not an OS X setting, per se.
posted by humboldt32 at 10:01 AM on January 5, 2020

Yeah, this is more of a browser setting than an OS. You mention Firefox. Are you using their sync feature across multiple devices? My assumption is that you need to check the privacy preferences and make sure you are allowing cookies.
posted by terrapin at 10:17 AM on January 5, 2020

Does it force a new log in every time you close Firefox or only when you shut down or log out of your OS session?

If it's the former it seems like Firefox is set to session only cookies (forget on browser restart).

To change that, open the Firefox context menu in the affected sites and pick the View Page Info option. It should open a new window with 4 tabs: General, Media, Permissions, and Security.
Open the Permissions tab, navigate down to Set Cookies, untick the Use Default checkbox and pick the Allow option.
posted by Bangaioh at 11:14 AM on January 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks to all for the info. I know about cookies and so went to Firefox Preferences and found that the "Delete cookies when Firefox closes" box was checked. (Maybe that happened with a software update?) So I unchecked it. That may solve the problem. Is there any benefit in deleting cookies at closure? I also checked permissions for the affected sites and the cookies have been enabled. I'll restart and see what happens.
posted by partner at 11:35 AM on January 5, 2020

I guarantee that was the source of the behavior.

I suppose the reason browser developers put that option in is because a lot of folks have an irrational "fear" of cookies based on ignorance. There's no real benefit, generally, to clearing cookies after closing a session. That sort of defeats the purpose of cookies.
posted by humboldt32 at 11:40 AM on January 5, 2020

Is there any benefit in deleting cookies at closure?

Cookies are the most basic of the dozens of different tracking vectors. If you don't care about privacy there's no harm in keeping them always for all sites.
posted by Bangaioh at 12:17 PM on January 5, 2020

Response by poster: After restart, Gmail still wants a login. So, per @Bangaloh, I checked Page Info/Security for the site and it says that there is no password stored for the site. But that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the problem since my password is stored for the NYTimes site and it still requires a log in.

Also, the system isn't synced, and yes this has to be a Firefox issue. The "Delete cookies when Firefox closes" box was checked again with this restart.

I did discover that, under Enhanced Tracking Protection, "Block all third party cookies" was checked in the Custom settings section. So I reverted to the Standard settings button aka Default, restarted Firefox and both sites loaded with no login necessary. — It seems the problem is fixed.

Though I don't recall, I must have taken bad advice about privacy and fiddled with the Custom settings in Enhanced Traking Protection.
posted by partner at 12:32 PM on January 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

The password manager in Firefox that you accessed from the Security tab is orthogonal to the cookie issue, as you've noticed. The manager remembers your credentials locally to prevent re-typing them; it's the cookies that authenticate you to the site and keep you logged in.

I wouldn't think blocking 3rd-party cookies would interfere with logins because I've been blocking those for over a decade with no consequences. Then again, I'm no web developer and this is Google and a news site we're dealing with, scummy behaviour is a given.

Blocking 3rd-party cookies is definitely not bad privacy advice, though, I think it's even the default in Firefox now. But again, if privacy is no concern, no harm in allowing everything.
posted by Bangaioh at 1:36 PM on January 5, 2020

Response by poster: @Bangaloh — Privacy is a concern. When I went back to the default—this seemed to be the fix. But, who knows? I'll go back and block the third party cookies again and see if the problem occurs.
posted by partner at 2:05 PM on January 5, 2020