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Old 26 Dec 2017, 07:42 AM   #1
m46ah_30
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 315
Can't stay signed in...

Is anyone else having a problem with being signed out of Fastmail.fm periodically? Several times a day I check mail and every 5th or 6th time I do I find it necessary to log bag in as I've been logged out during my absence. I am ticking the "keep me logged in" box but it doesn;t seems to help, and I'm NOT fiddling with my cookie catalog.
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Old 26 Dec 2017, 12:53 PM   #2
n5bb
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Join Date: May 2004
Location: Irving, Texas
Posts: 8,916
I haven't seen any such problems. But the sign-in page has been https://www.fastmail.com for three years. If you try fastmail.fm your browser should redirect you to fastmail.com, which shows things down a bit.

The problem might be corrupted cookies, corrupted saved login credentials, or an add-on in your browser. You might try these steps:
  • While logged into your Fastmail account, go to Settings>Passwords & Security.
  • Scroll to the bottom of that page and examine the Logged in Sessions list. This shows the browser name and version (or FastMail App on a mobile device, the operating system version, the last IP address of the device logging in, and the date of the all sessions still active. At this time, the latest released version of Firefox on Windows 10 64-bit shows up as "Firefox 57 on Windows 64".
  • My active (logged in) sessions all show "Expires after 30 day inactivity". What do you see?
  • You can log out of sessions if you first enter your master password at the top of that page. You might try logging out of all sessions shown (start with the oldest one at the bottom), then clear all saved login credentials in the browser, then clear all Fastmail related cookies in the browser. You might then reboot the PC, start the browser, and check that the browser is updated to the latest version. Then go to https://www.fastmail.com and log in with your full email address and master password (with the Keep me logged in box enabled).
Bill
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Old 26 Dec 2017, 09:23 PM   #3
m46ah_30
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 315
I'm using Firefox 52.5.2 ESR which is the latest version on the ESR channel. I should be note that this situation started only a week or so ago. No add-ons or extensions have been removed or added in that time.

I have 4 active sessions showing, the oldest being 12 days, the newest being 6 seconds old. All show the 30 day expiration notice. I tried to log out of the oldest one by clicking the "log out" button after signing in with my password. It is removed from the list but reappears after several seconds as do the others if I try them. I have removed the saved log-in credentials from the browser to see if that has an effect. What should I try next if it does not resolve the situation?
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Old 27 Dec 2017, 12:14 PM   #4
n5bb
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Location: Irving, Texas
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I forgot to suggest that you first log out of all open Fastmail sessions (except the one which allows you to see the logins). I’m not sure my earlier suggestions are all that useful unless you clear all saved logins and cookies.

But before going through that trouble, I have a few more questions.
  • When you finish reading you email, do you leave the browser window open on your Fastmail account?
  • Or do you just close the browser tab or window?
  • Or do you use the Fastmail log out feature?
  • When you say you must log back in, do you mean you have to re-enter your password? Or something else?
  • If you just leave the Fastmail browser tab open (with the PC set to not sleep), what do you see? Does the Fastmail message list just disappear (due to something logging you off)?
I use two-factor authentication and choose to trust the device, which sets up cookies so that I don’t have to re-enter my password on that device unless I log out.

Bill
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Old 27 Dec 2017, 01:09 PM   #5
m46ah_30
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Quote:
Originally Posted by n5bb View Post
I forgot to suggest that you first log out of all open Fastmail sessions (except the one which allows you to see the logins). I’m not sure my earlier suggestions are all that useful unless you clear all saved logins and cookies.

But before going through that trouble, I have a few more questions.
  • When you finish reading you email, do you leave the browser window open on your Fastmail account? I usually just click on another destination, shortcut or link and head off to another page or web address.
  • Or do you just close the browser tab or window?
  • Or do you use the Fastmail log out feature?
  • When you say you must log back in, do you mean you have to re-enter your password? Or something else?
  • If you just leave the Fastmail browser tab open (with the PC set to not sleep), what do you see? Does the Fastmail message list just disappear (due to something logging you off)?
I use two-factor authentication and choose to trust the device, which sets up cookies so that I don’t have to re-enter my password on that device unless I log out.

Bill
  • When I finish reading or sending, I just click on another destination, shortcut or link and head off to another page or web address in the same window or tab that just displayed Fastmail.
  • Sometimes I'll open FM in a new tab or window especially if I want to have 2 windows open and displayed side-by-side on screen if I'm trying to use the message content for some purpose.
  • I never log out of my Fastmail account unless I have to log into my wife's account, which is very rare and hasn't happened in several months.
  • When this anomaly occurs, when I try to re-open Fastmail, instead of getting my message list I get the login screen and need to enter both account name and password to reopen my inbox. It's as though I logged out, which I know I didn't.
  • I almost never leave the Fastmail tab or window open because I rarely need to. I keep a shortcut to my inbox in the Firefox shortcut toolbar. When I leave Fastmail by clicking on another shortcut (e.g. the BBC web site) the inbox simply disappears as the browser switches to loading BBC.. If I want to return to FM after the BBC I click my toolbar FM shortcut and my FM inbox reopens just as I left it... until recently. I'm trying to discover why it instead occasionally opens on the Fastmail login screen and requires me to re-enter account name and password to get back to my inbox. Sleep is not an issue. I routinely close all my browser windows/tabs and put the system into sleep at the end of the day. Whe I return to it the next time I simply wake the system with a spacebar strike and click on my FM shortcut to return to my inbox.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill
I use two-factor authentication and choose to trust the device, which sets up cookies so that I don’t have to re-enter my password on that device unless I log out.
My system generally works the same way with simple authentication. Until this login/out glitch showed up I could go months without having to log back in even if I had to reboot the system for updates.
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Old 28 Dec 2017, 01:28 AM   #6
n5bb
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Location: Irving, Texas
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Question

I don’t see your problem with my three Fastmail accounts, so it doesn’t appear to be a system-wide issue. Is the shortcut you are using to fastmail.fm (old address which only redirects now) or fastmail.com? Are you using Firefox Private Browsing?

The next time you need to bring up Fastmail, just type fastmail.com in the URL bar on a regular (not private) Firefox window. Be sure that auto-complete doesn’t add some incorrect parameters at the end of the URL. See if that reliably works. Since your issue is erratic I’m guessing this has something to do with private Firefox windows or the actual URL you are using. Or something is removing or corrupting your Fastmail cookies.

I use Firefox and Windows 10 (or my iPad with Safari) in a similar fashion to what you describe. It just works, and I would be annoyed as you are if it stopped working reliably. Let us know what you find. I will let you know if I see this problem appear on my accounts.

{By the way, are you in NW PA covered up with snow? My brother and his wife are visiting her family in State College PA this week, and I think the big snowfall was all to the northwest of them.}

Bill

Last edited by n5bb : 28 Dec 2017 at 01:40 AM.
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Old 28 Dec 2017, 03:04 AM   #7
m46ah_30
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Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 315
Quote:
Originally Posted by n5bb View Post
I don’t see your problem with my three Fastmail accounts, so it doesn’t appear to be a system-wide issue. Is the shortcut you are using to fastmail.fm (old address which only redirects now) or fastmail.com? Are you using Firefox Private Browsing?

The next time you need to bring up Fastmail, just type fastmail.com in the URL bar on a regular (not private) Firefox window. Be sure that auto-complete doesn’t add some incorrect parameters at the end of the URL. See if that reliably works. Since your issue is erratic I’m guessing this has something to do with private Firefox windows or the actual URL you are using. Or something is removing or corrupting your Fastmail cookies.



I use Firefox and Windows 10 (or my iPad with Safari) in a similar fashion to what you describe. It just works, and I would be annoyed as you are if it stopped working reliably. Let us know what you find. I will let you know if I see this problem appear on my accounts.

{By the way, are you in NW PA covered up with snow? My brother and his wife are visiting her family in State College PA this week, and I think the big snowfall was all to the northwest of them.}

Bill
The shortcut is fastmail.com/mail/inbox/?u=xxxxxxxxxx. I don't use private browsing with Fastmail.

Thanks for your advice. I'll check the web address in the URL bar and advise you if anything unusual turns up there.

I'm quite thankfully "down state" along PA's southern border about 30 miles east of the State Capitol.
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