IT problems - logging off

[john fox]

on my home PC I hit the log off, the screen for all cookies cleared etc comes up but when i then return to the site via my desktop shortcut I am still logged in

 

this does not happen with my PC (at work) or my laptop (at home)

Help!

:computerrage:

[AlienFTM]

I vaguely remember seeing this problem when I bought a "Windows98 compatible" scanner. I installed the drivers and started getting the problem. It turned out that the "Windows98 Compatible" driver wasn't really compatible. I have also seen this problem with internet connections, i.e. modems and broadband routers.

 

The short-term solution was, when the screen went black and before the Windows splash screen re-appeared, press the power button and hard power-off. When the screen is black and not at the Windows logo, there are no Windows files open to be corrupted by a hard power-off. Note that if a simple press of the power switch does not kill your PC, you can ALWAYS force a hard power-off by pressing and holding the power switch for five seconds (not recommended if it's going to corrupt data).

 

Long term solution. (This all assumes Windows XP. My understanding is that Vista will not tolerate drivers that have not been approved by Microsoft, but I am a mainframe engineer which means as far as Windows is concerned I am simply a user.)

 

1. Did the problem start after you installed new hardware? If so, go online and visit the manufacturer's website to search for an updated driver.

 

2. Did the problem start after you installed a new driver? If you created a system restore point prior to that, you could roll the system back. Otherwise try reinstalling the driver.

 

3. Don't know what changed? Go into Control Panel (I have always used Classic View Control Panel so I have no way of describing Control Panel for Teletubbies, as I perceive everything Windows for XP because of that hillock on the desktop. No I definitely said hillock.) Click on System to display the System Properties window. Click on the Hardware tab. Click on Device Manager. Open the little "+" against each device in turn and look for a yellow warning triangle against any device. If you find one, this could very well be the problem. Right-click the device and select Update Driver. This will present the Hardware Update Wizard. Never having been in there and not wishing to break my own ThinkPad to find out, I have no idea what happens after this. Follow the instructions: they are meant to idiot-proof.

 

4. Still no joy? Print off this message because you will probably need to reboot in a few minutes and you'll be able to continue these instructions on the other side of the reboot. Start up Internet Explorer (spit: but AFAIK it's the only browser that Windows Update - spit - supports). Click on Tools, then Windows Update. Click on Custom. It will take a few minutes to check for the latest updates for your computer.

 

I'd expect to find at the very least Windows XP Service Pack 2 already installed and unless like my company you have a valid reason not to, likewise Service Pack 3. If you are offered an install of a Service Pack, go back into Control Panel, click on the System Restore tab, change the settings if necessary and click OK. If something screws your install, you can then simply roll back to this restore point. Then install the Service Pack(s). You'll have to restart the computer after it's installed.

 

Go back to Windows Update and review Other Updates. When it lists, in the left-hand margin, click Hardware Updates. Take a look at the list of updates available and decide which looks like a candidate for having broken your machine. (Driver updates can require a leap of faith. If the machine is not broke, why fix it?) Click on the check box next to the item, then click review and install updates at the top of the page. I recommend if you are going to do these, do them one at a time so that if something goes wrong you know which one it was.

 

If after all this your problem has not gone away, consider upgrading Windows to Version 7 which is due out any day. (I don't recommend Vista. In a news feed today I received this:

 

A Microsoft exec has admitted that "Vista was a less good product", as the launch of Windows 7 looms.

 

http://www.itpro.co.uk/615247/microsoft-admits-vista-was-less-good

 

There is however a gotcha here too, because whenever you up-system, you may find that hardware components are not compatible. Visit this Microsoft page:

 

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=1B544E90-7659-4BD9-9E51-2497C146AF15&displaylang=en

 

which will check your system's compatibility with Windows 7. If it warns you of incompatibilities, do not brush this aside. I once failed to believe a list of warnings about Windows 2000, installed it anyway and wrecked the machine.

 

Let me know how you get on.

[AlienFTM]

I reread your post. It isn't a problem logging off Windows at all is it? It's a problem logging off HMVF, right?

 

Why do you have an issue logging off HMVF? Would you rather not log back in automatically as you are now?

 

Cookies are not necessarily a bad thing. Used for their proper purpose they simply save you having to log back on every time.

 

Do you use Spybot S&D Free Version to protect your machine against spyware etc? I can recommend a better way of using it so that you do not keep deleting all your cookies, but you are still safe from attack.

 

I presume you regularly scan your machine using S&D and when it finds problems, you click Fix (or something - I am not going to run S&D for half an hour to check), which seems entirely reasonable.

 

When the scan is complete, instead of clicking Fix, click Immunize in the left-hand margin. Watch the count top right of unprotected items increase until the process stops, then click Immunize again, this time above the count of unprotected items. Once this is done, you are protected against all the hundreds of thousands of malware items in the field, but your cookies are all safe.

 

If you have a router between your PC(s) and your telephone socket, it almost certainly has a built-in Network Address Translation (NAT) firewall integral to the whole concept of a router. This hardware firewall will protect you against ANYTHING inbound to your computer. The only thing an NAT firewall will not protect by default is outgoing traffic. Since Zone Alarm Free protects your outbound traffic (for example if your machine has been taken over to be used as an e-mail zombie to spread spam around the net), it is entirely adequate as a complement to your NAT firewall.

 

If you are behind a router and you are using firewall software, anti-virus software or anti-spyware software which is not free, e.g. Zone Alarm Free version, AVG Free version or Avast or Spybot S&D respectively, you are wasting money. I have Zone Alarm Free, AVG Free and Spybot S&D for years and nothing has ever got through. The likes of Symantec just want your paranoia to encourage you to buy their software.

 

Of course if you are NOT connected to the internet by a router with NAT firewall (for example by 56K or broadband modem), then you absolutely MUST buy decent prophylactic software. My company has an agreement with Symantec which allows us to use the products we have on our work machines on our home machines, but IMHO Symantec products are resource hogs which restrict your machine. When we had a brief falling-out with Symantec (now resolved) we used the full Zone Alarm firewall with the same use-on-private-machines agreement. If it's good enough for them, it would be good enough for me.

 

However at the end of the day, if using subscription packages makes you feel safer, it is not my place to change your mind against your own will.

[ArtistsRifles]

<Snipped>

My understanding is that Vista will not tolerate drivers that have not been approved by Microsoft, but I am a mainframe engineer which means as far as Windows is concerned I am simply a user.)

 

 

Essentially correct sir. You can force Vista - depending on which version and your account rights - to take an unsigned driver but it is a tedious job and not without a degree of risk to the system.

I run 64 bit Vista Ultimate here at home and my account is an Admin one. My wife and daughter share use on the machine and they have trog accounts which stops those websites with nasty payloads from doing things as well as stopping them adding stuff without my knowledge!!!

 

Funnily enough - I am a Windows Support type (at least - part of my job spec. was that) and to me - as far as Main Frames are concerned I am (was!) just a user

[john fox]

Hi Alien

Thanks, Oh boy I just loooove IT

 

Your second post is correct, it's logging off HMVF that's the issue. I was brought up to always log off, especially where you need a password to access a site and don't want someone impersonating me - I have lodgers in the house :shake: and can't be bothered with a startup/BIOS password anymore

 

I can successfully log off HMVF when accessing using the company PC via our company network (as now :cool2:) or, when at my other house, using the company laptop via a wireless modem to my talktalk BB connection at that house. No idea how the company hardware is configured, all I know is we use Macafee.

 

But at my own home, on my own PC, that's when I can't log off HMVF. I use Windows XP and a (directly connected) netgear router to Virgin (cable) BB. I use AVG free and Spybot S&D free but not Zone Alarm - not sure what firewall is on, possibly just the generic windows one :???

 

the message about cookies deleted seems to be a HMVF one and I thought that was a security measure put in on one of the forum upgrades?

 

that failure to log out using my home PC does not affect the other forums I access on it, seems to be restricted only to HMVF eg. AFV society or WWIIreenacting log out properly.

 

as you say it might not be a great security issue so if thats how things are then so be it, but I do like things neat and tidy and the inconsistency just annoys

[Jack]

John - I will ask Joris to have a look when he is back and see what the issue is there.

 

Kind regards,

 

Jack.

[Marmite!!]

Answer from the Forum Software tech guys...

 

It's impossible to know exactly what it is but some possibilities are: browsers, browser settings, cookies being blocked, Internet and security settings, ISP and/or cache issues, firewalls, ad-blockers, spyware, proxies and any other application that affects Internet content.

 

No bugs are being investigated re this problem so it looks like an end user problem... probably why it's ok on one PC & not another