Tech help: New computer won't keep me logged into websites after restart

[Hubbs]

I get the feeling that this is a simple problem to fix, I just don't know how to do it. I recently got a new Macbook, and it doesn't keep me logged into some of the various websites I use (including this one) if I restart my computer, even if I've clicked on "Keep me logged in" on a site that would recognize me as still logged in through a restart of my old computer (also a Macbook). I haven't messed with the cookies settings or really tweaked anything beyond a couple of the most basic default settings that have to do with minor things like the font size displayed in my windows. Is there a way for me to stay logged in after restarting my computer, or is this some sort of new security feature of either my Macbook or Chrome that I can't get rid of?

[twa]

check the security setting on chrome

if you have delete after closing you may need to add a exception

[No_Pressure]

Your browser is likely deleting authentication cookies every time you close it or turn off your computer. Cookies are bits of data collected by your browser when you visit websites which keep track of what you did while you were there for convenience purposes. They are the reason why, for example, if you visit a website, click on a hyperlink (the ones highlighted and underlined in blue) and go somewhere else, if you return to the website you were on before the link will show up as purple indicating that you have been there and clicked on that link before. Authentication cookies keep track of log-in information and status for you as well. When you click the keep me logged in or remember me buttons on a website, you're telling the website to make a note in the cookie you have for that specific site to remember the specific information and preferences for your unique identification.

I would advise to look at the settings tab on google chrome and see if there is anything that deals with cookies or remembering information which has been entered. I don't use chrome and even if I did it is likely somewhat different in its interface on the mac than on my PC so I can't exactly give you a walkthrough. If that isn't the issue I would assume it may have something to do with internet security settings on the mac you're using. One good way to test that would be downloading an additional browser such as firefox (or using the basic safari) and see if it keeps you logged into sites through those browsers. If it doesn't, the problem is not google chrome, and if it does, then the problem IS google chrome and you can figure out how to act accordingly.

Good luck.

[jnhay]

Click on the wrench icon -> go to settings -> privacy -> content settings... button -> under cookies is it set to "Allow local data to be set" ? If not, use that setting.

[Renegade7]

I know its not convenient for you, but in all honesty, from a security perspective, you don't want to stay "logged in" to anything. Don't let you computer remember your logins and passwords, because it's storing it there and someone can come in and get them if they want. Its just not smart...

[GMUSkinsFan]

I know its not convenient for you, but in all honesty, from a security perspective, you don't want to stay "logged in" to anything. Don't let you computer remember your logins and passwords, because it's storing it there and someone can come in and get them if they want. Its just not smart...

For sites like ES there's really no issue. Now for email and bank accounts, that's another story.

[Renegade7]

For sites like ES there's really no issue. Now for email and bank accounts, that's another story.

Really? So opening yourself up to someone impersonating you on a public message board is no big deal???

[GMUSkinsFan]

Really? So opening yourself up to someone impersonating you on a public message board is no big deal???

If you care that much about your reputation on a message board like ES, you may have bigger issues than just password security.

[Renegade7]

If you care that much about your reputation on a message board like ES, you may have bigger issues than just password security.

That's a small-box way of looking at things, man. And its this "it won't happen to me" mentality as a technological society that's causing us to be so vulnerable from IT perspective,

[GMUSkinsFan]

That's a small-box way of looking at things, man. And its this "it won't happen to me" mentality as a technological society that's causing us to be so vulnerable from IT perspective,

I work in IT dude, and my passwords for the important stuff are extremely secure. And honestly, if someone really wanted than it wouldn't take them too much to get those passwords even if they weren't saved. Only takes me a few minutes to put a keylogger on someones system.

Although I will agree with you that most people don't have enough passwords. If you have one password for everything, then you're beyond stupid. I've got 10+ passwords and variations of them and every 3 months I'll change passwords for financial accounts and my work account. Unfortunately, there's still all too many people who use "password" as their password.

[Renegade7]

I work in IT dude, and my passwords for the important stuff are extremely secure. And honestly, if someone really wanted than it wouldn't take them too much to get those passwords even if they weren't saved. Only takes me a few minutes to put a keylogger on someones system.

I work in IT, too, and even though I've told the small company I work for about ways they should simply change their default settings (at minimum) so someone won't get in just because they can, they won't do it. My response to this thread is for the thread starter who most likely isn't IT nor probably understands what we know and giving some friendly advice. Saying "don't worry about it" is the wrong thing to be telling people, especially if you know what a keylogger is and how to use it, imo.

[GMUSkinsFan]

I work in IT, too, and even though I've told the small company I work for about ways they should simply change their default settings (at minimum) so someone won't get in just because they can, they won't do it. My response to this thread is for the thread starter who most likely isn't IT nor probably understands what we know and giving some friendly advice. Saying "don't worry about it" is the wrong thing to be telling people, especially if you know what a keylogger is and how to use it, imo.

Oh I completely agree, I work for a rather large company with thousands of accounts and I've been down to our finance floor numerous times and told people personally that their password is not nearly secure enough and they need to change it. The worst is the people who have a .txt file on their desktop titled "password list". Or the idiot I talked to whose password was "password". In general though, I wouldn't suggest saving passwords. I only do it for ES cause it can be a pain in the ass to log in every time I visit, and i tend to check in on ES a lot as while closing my browser in between visits.

[Renegade7]

Oh I completely agree, I work for a rather large company with thousands of accounts and I've been down to our finance floor numerous times and told people personally that their password is not nearly secure enough and they need to change it. The worst is the people who have a .txt file on their desktop titled "password list". Or the idiot I talked to whose password was "password". In general though, I wouldn't suggest saving passwords. I only do it for ES cause it can be a pain in the ass to log in every time I visit, and i tend to check in on ES a lot as while closing my browser in between visits.

I hear ya, man, and don't mean to put you blast. You and I both know there's a lot of people that simply don't know any better and turn around and use the same password for everything. Ya, it's just extremeskins, but for people that aren't aware of the tools that available to black hats now, that password may be the same one they use for their email, or facebook, or God forbid their bank account. Fingerprint or footprint somebody enough and it doesn't even take long to figure out "what high school you went to" or "your favorite sports team"...

[GMUSkinsFan]

I hear ya, man, and don't mean to put you blast. You and I both know there's a lot of people that simply don't know any better and turn around and use the same password for everything. Ya, it's just extremeskins, but for people that aren't aware of the tools that available to black hats now, that password may be the same one they use for their email, or facebook, or God forbid their bank account. Fingerprint or footprint somebody enough and it doesn't even take long to figure out "what high school you went to" or "your favorite sports team"...

I NEVER answer those questions correctly. Like you said, way too easy for someone to find that information out.

[jnhay]

You guys don't use Windows accounts and lock the computer before you leave the room? If you're that paranoid, just avoid saving your important passwords.

[No_Pressure]

You guys don't use Windows accounts and lock the computer before you leave the room? If you're that paranoid, just avoid saving your important passwords.

The information you elect to save once entering it into an online form is saved to your computer in the form of a cookie. A third party using a number of different ways could gain access to your computer as long as it is connected to the internet and obtain said information from said cookie without too much effort.

[jnhay]

The information you elect to save once entering it into an online form is saved to your computer in the form of a cookie. A third party using a number of different ways could gain access to your computer as long as it is connected to the internet and obtain said information from said cookie without too much effort.

If someone gains access to my computer, won't they gain access to that information anyway? Even if I use a secure password manager, I'd still be copying my password to the clipboard. What I'm trying to get at is that there are usually only a few important passwords a person has. Unless some hacker has a personal agenda against you, your Extremeskins and Facebook passwords aren't going to lead them to get into your bank account. If a third party has access to your computer, your password will be stolen one way or the other.

BTW, do banks even offer to remember your password? I know I always have to manually paste mine in.

Being in the IT industry and thinking about passwords is probably like getting sick when you're a doctor. Since you know the possibilities you get paranoid.

[Renegade7]

If someone gains access to my computer, won't they gain access to that information anyway? Even if I use a secure password manager, I'd still be copying my password to the clipboard. What I'm trying to get at is that there are usually only a few important passwords a person has. Unless some hacker has a personal agenda against you, your Extremeskins and Facebook passwords aren't going to lead them to get into your bank account. If a third party has access to your computer, your password will be stolen one way or the other.

BTW, do banks even offer to remember your password? I know I always have to manually paste mine in.

Being in the IT industry and thinking about passwords is probably like getting sick when you're a doctor. Since you know the possibilities you get paranoid.

I know BoA mobile can remember your login, password, and your device so you can avoid the 3 questions they ask. I don't allow any of that, and big reason why is that it's a bad idea and its harder to lock down a cell phone then it is a regular computer.

And, no, I use linux at home and at work (job was cool enough to let me do it to mine). You can go into firefox and tell it to delete all history and cookies on the closing of the browser, but you have to make sure the "save passwords and logins" option is checked off.

I don't know if you've ever been wardriving before just for the fun of it, but I have and one of my best friends is way better then I am. You should be happy we're the good guys, because its way easier then you think it is. It's not being paranoid, its a reality that many are just now starting to understand and people like the NSA and Obama are begging people to take more seriously (look at the cybersecurity bill that the senate voted down, for instance).

And what do you mean "manually paste yours in"? Do you have your passwords saved to a text document in clear text on your desktop or something? That's asking for it, bro, stop that...

[jnhay]

I don't know if you've ever been wardriving before just for the fun of it, but I have and one of my best friends is way better then I am. You should be happy we're the good guys, because its way easier then you think it is. It's not being paranoid, its a reality that many are just now starting to understand and people like the NSA and Obama are begging people to take more seriously (look at the cybersecurity bill that the senate voted down, for instance).

And what do you mean "manually paste yours in"? Do you have your passwords saved to a text document in clear text on your desktop or something? That's asking for it, bro, stop that...

When you speak of wardriving, what kind of wifi are you cracking into? I know it's easy to crack a simple WEP key, or are you cracking something more complex? So if I am connected to a router with WPA2, and use a banking website through https obviously, you could still easily get my password? And if you're that diligent, storing my passwords in firefox wouldn't make a difference.

I use password safe. I just think the fear you're trying to instill in people is unwarranted IMO. Yes, it's possible, but you make it sound way more common than it is (at least for normal people). You make it sound like everyone should have a dedicated terminal they use solely for online banking, with multi-factor authentication, a memorized password of at least 12 characters, and a secret room to do all this work in.

[Renegade7]

When you speak of wardriving, what kind of wifi are you cracking into? I know it's easy to crack a simple WEP key, or are you cracking something more complex? So if I am connected to a router with WPA2, and use a banking website through https obviously, you could still easily get my password? And if you're that diligent, storing my passwords in firefox wouldn't make a difference.

I use password safe. I just think the fear you're trying to instill in people is unwarranted IMO. Yes, it's possible, but you make it sound way more common than it is (at least for normal people). You make it sound like everyone should have a dedicated terminal they use solely for online banking, with multi-factor authentication, a memorized password of at least 12 characters, and a secret room to do all this work in.

No, I'm not, you're just taking it that way.

And if you're router has WPS, there's a tool called reaver that goes directly after the router circumventing WPA2 to get the password for your SSID in hours or days, not the weeks or months you'd have to do with rainbow tables. There are tools like SSLstripper used for decrypting low-level SSL/TLS traffic, but you're right that if someone is doing that to you, chances are they want 'you'. Most crackers look for easy targets, so again, I'm just telling people to keep from being low-hanging fruit. It's not that hard...

Again, most people don't use this nor understand common best practices for simple every day computer security. For some of these elites, there's nothing you can do, but you can block script kiddies pretty easily with simply things like keeping up on your updates and anti-virus...

Edit: People can feel safe at home if they want, but if you're a business owner reading this thread, look at the fact that every single fortune 500 company has been hit at least once. Stop thinking that it can't or won't happen to you, because it can and it happens everyday.

[jnhay]

Edit: People can feel safe at home if they want, but if you're a business owner reading this thread, look at the fact that every single fortune 500 company has been hit at least once. Stop thinking that it can't or won't happen to you, because it can and it happens everyday.

I agree with you there. Businesses do really have to be wary, and those tips are good to know. I would also be more wary if I was living in a densely populated location, like an apartment building or something. But trust me, how I took your statements is how a lot of people would take them. I had a neighbor just the other day freak out because her printer printed out one of those routine maintenance sheets. When you look at the probabilities, I disagree with your original statement that it's so bad to store passwords. The convenience outweighs the small increase in security in many cases, because, like you mentioned, if someone's willing to spend days cracking your wireless you have bigger problems than Firefox automatically filling out your ES account.

[No_Pressure]

If someone gains access to my computer, won't they gain access to that information anyway? Even if I use a secure password manager, I'd still be copying my password to the clipboard. What I'm trying to get at is that there are usually only a few important passwords a person has. Unless some hacker has a personal agenda against you, your Extremeskins and Facebook passwords aren't going to lead them to get into your bank account. If a third party has access to your computer, your password will be stolen one way or the other.

BTW, do banks even offer to remember your password? I know I always have to manually paste mine in.

Being in the IT industry and thinking about passwords is probably like getting sick when you're a doctor. Since you know the possibilities you get paranoid.

They'll gain access to it as long as its saved is what I was saying. Of course there are ways to obtain passwords and information which is not saved as well, but it makes it more difficult to be a victim if you don't save any important passwords on your computer. I'm not saying that everybody needs to be paranoid about their login information for every website they visit, I highly doubt most people trying to steal your passwords are stealing the ones to extremeskins.com or something. Obviously as we can all agree there is no need to ever save passwords and other information for online banking and the sort.

Where did hubbs go? Did he ever fix his problem?

[jnhay]

They'll gain access to it as long as its saved is what I was saying. Of course there are ways to obtain passwords and information which is not saved as well, but it makes it more difficult to be a victim if you don't save any important passwords on your computer. I'm not saying that everybody needs to be paranoid about their login information for every website they visit, I highly doubt most people trying to steal your passwords are stealing the ones to extremeskins.com or something. Obviously as we can all agree there is no need to ever save passwords and other information for online banking and the sort.

Where did hubbs go? Did he ever fix his problem?

It's a moot point for me. I use password safe for any account I have that might give credit card or access to any of my money. I don't know any of my important passwords. This is probably the most I've thought about it in a while.

[Renegade7]

It's a moot point for me. I use password safe for any account I have that might give credit card or access to any of my money. I don't know any of my important passwords. This is probably the most I've thought about it in a while.

I can leave this thread knowing that. That was the goal, nothing else...