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Why can't I log out?

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 9:23 PM

I found it noteworthy that two of todays news articles centered upon rail mass transit in South Florida. They must be "all in"?

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 5:44 PM

 

Yes, there are likely Linux distros available that will run on most architectures. But the unique thing about knoppix is that they seem to have streamlined the process, making it doable for us mere mortals.

And I don't believe that knoppix runs on that foreign hardware. If I'm wrong about that, then I'm wrong, the disclaimer was mostly because I didn't want to risk leading any innocents down a blind path. Anyone having the savvy to make it work...more power to them. Wink

I've been using it nearly exclusively for a little over a year now.

There are downsides, such as once you have your remastered system all set up on a USB, you can't easily add sofware. It's far easier to just start from scratch, make your additions, and then recreate the USB all over again.

And, using their option for "persistence"  (the overlay option) is a joke unless you have a USB 3.0 capable machine AND thumb drive....

But I have learned to live with those limitations in exchange for the peace of mind and convenience.

I do get some weird looks from the staff at the library when I boot my "computer on a key ring" in front of them...but "oh well"

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 5:15 PM

Convicted One
Mac users likely can't do this

They might have to use a different Knoppix .iso, but it's still a Linux boot, and there have been Linux ports for every Intel Mac I've ever seen.

Doesn't matter what OS version you're on, either.

I suspect there are versions for G3/4/5 PowerPC Macs... hell, probably some version that runs on typical 68040 architecture with fewer 'graphical refinements' and perhaps only command-line shortcuts.  

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Posted by Convicted One on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 4:49 PM

Overmod
Until then, clearing the Kalmbach 'cookies' may be the only thing a user can do,

Seriously folks, anyone wishing for a bullet proof solution, should go to the following site and download the knoppix ISO listed at sonic.net (the very bottom of the listed mirrors.

Burn that to a blank DVD disc using a suitable windows based disk burner utility And then boot that disc. Then import all your bookmarks to the 3 browsers included, go to your browsers webstore and obtain any plug-ins and add ons for your browsers that you desire,  and then with ONLY one of the included browsers,  surf to your favorite forums and physically log on, but do not log on to any websites using any of the other included browsers.........then once you have concluded your configurations,.. use the included  FLASH-KNOPPIX utility to flash the entire system, including all configuration options you just made, to a bootable USB flash drive.  Make sure you select "no overlay, write only" and "Yes, remaster the system" when you are prompted with those choices...and 20 minutes later you will have a virus and malware proof (read only) system the size of your little finger, that includes a bodacious software bundle (Gimp, Inkscape, Libre office suite, etc)

I don't want to sound like a commercial, I have no affiliation whatsoever, but right now I am viewing the Trains forums with  the Chromium  browser "logged on" and with the Firefox browser not logged on...seems like it would solve most of the problems I see listed here. Take matters into your own hands.

As an added bonus, any cookies that I accumulate during  routine  surfing, are erased whenever I shut down my system

http://knopper.net/knoppix-mirrors/index-en.html

Follow the instructed links that should lead you here:

http://mirrors.sonic.net/knoppix/knoppix-dvd/

 

And download the file named KNOPPIX_V9.1DVD-2021-01-25-EN.iso  (4.4G)

 

Or don't...it's just a suggestion  Star

Mac users likely can't do this

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 4:45 PM

rixflix

What's all this log out stuff? The only site I log out of is my bank account. Is it important to do this?

RIck

 

Only if it's important to you to do so.  It isn't to me, but then I've got NOTHING on my lap-top that would be of interest to anyone with a nefarious purpose who might happen to peek in.  

Others may tell you differently. 

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Posted by rixflix on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 4:23 PM

What's all this log out stuff? The only site I log out of is my bank account. Is it important to do this?

RIck

rixflix aka Captain Video. Blessed be Jean Shepherd and all His works!!! Hooray for 1939, the all time movie year!!! I took that ride on the Reading but my Baby caught the Katy and left me a mule to ride.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 3:16 PM

Overmod
Until they get done unifying the security model across all the disparate functions of the sites, I expect there to be different ways they handle clientside data in cookies and associate it with different serverside resources and permissions.

Until then, clearing the Kalmbach 'cookies' may be the only thing a user can do, in the absence of responsive and knowledgeable customer-service representatives.

They haven't accomplished site standardizarion in the past 18 years - I won't hold my breath.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Overmod on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 3:05 PM

Until they get done unifying the security model across all the disparate functions of the sites, I expect there to be different ways they handle clientside data in cookies and associate it with different serverside resources and permissions.

Until then, clearing the Kalmbach 'cookies' may be the only thing a user can do, in the absence of responsive and knowledgeable customer-service representatives.

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Posted by BaltACD on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 2:47 PM

Kalmbach IT strikes again!

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Wednesday, April 7, 2021 1:30 PM

Yep   locked out of news wire .  tried to log out would not let me tried to change pass word no help.  This just  sucks!

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Posted by MR ROY MIZE on Tuesday, April 6, 2021 1:05 PM

April 2021 / new site very nice looking/  User navigation problematic. LOGOUT IMPOSSIBLE  Has your IT Group updated their skills or are they tryig to use Berkeley UNIX for a modern online world.  Also never sure I'm logged on.  Many other sites have a simple interface on the opening page - they say LOGOFF and it works.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 8:28 PM

It wasn't so much that I wanted to log out per se. I was having trouble getting the website to let me change my avatar.  I thought that maye if I logged out, then back in, I possibly would have a different result. (I didn't)

Then, when I saw I could not log out, I got curious as to why.

Still in training.


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Posted by GERALD L MCFARLANE JR on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 6:34 PM

The bigger question is...why would you want to log out?   I don't, manually at least, if I do it's either when something in the system gets updated and logs me out or some other usually unknown reason.  Now, granted that the Trains website and forums are unsecured(have not been updated to hpptS standards yet, probably still running old http) it's probably a good idea to log out, but the likelyhood that nefarious people are going to use Kalmbach and Trains for malintent is unlikely...and in that case my firewall and virus/malware software will take care of it.  

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 5:26 PM

Just today I updated to Mac OS 10.13.6

My first attempt to log out with the new OS was unsuccessful. It was the cookie purge that fixed things.

I had been running 10.11.something

Still in training.


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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 5:16 PM

Your welcome LithoniaOperator!  Glad I was able to be of some small assistance!

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 4:46 PM

SUCCESS!!

Thanks Overmod and Flintlock.

Overmod, I did what you said and fixed it. I am confused a bit, though, because BaltACD had told me the same thing, and I thought I had done it. ?? Anyway, this time I found cookies in the Ks (Kalmbach) and in the Ts (Trains). Maybe I had not noticed the Trains one before.

Now I am either logged into both or neither. Smile

Still in training.


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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 4:27 PM

Out of curiosity, what version of Mac OS is involved here?

I have my page display set to 'latest first' as it vastly simplifies reading long or frequently-updated threads.  But to this day the Model Railroader site refuses to render threads that way, although it is easy to click 'descending' to have them display that way.

(On the other hand, and this is probably a window into Bangalore programming, it doesn't matter if I select 'increasing' in the Trains or Classic Trains forums: when the page goes to redisplay with the regular ordering, it duly fired the preference and "fixes" it back to the global setting -- 'give the user what they asked for' with a vengeance!


I have not analyzed the various cookies that Trains sets on my Mac systems to see what functionality (or commercial opportunities I know nothing about) are included in each one.  I have to suspect that the logout problem is associated with at least one of these that has become "somehow" corrupted -- you might want to work through your cookies and wipe the identifiable Kalmbach ones 'one by one' to see if that at some point solves the internal software confusion ... it should be doing garbage collection on the 'logged-out' cookie content but isn't doing a complete enough job, perhaps not coincidentally leaving some kind of preference or other tracking enabled.

I also notice that my logged-in status is not recognized whenever I look at one of Brian Schmidt's Newswire posts (it prompts me to 'log in or register') but I remain properly recognized as soon as I go back to the previous page.  Not sure how that might be related to your issue.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 3:21 PM

If I'm logged in to the "Trains" Forum it seems I'm logged into all the other Forums I visit, such as "Classic Toy Trains" and "Classic Trains," automatically.  

And if I log out of one, I'm logged out of all.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Tuesday, May 14, 2019 2:32 PM

In my ongoing tech fight with the Trains websites, I was able to go on my wife's computer (same iMac model, same OS) and change my avatar. So, progress.

But now I notice this anomaly (on my own computer): Even though I can log in and out of the forum page now, I cannot log out of the Trains mag page. When I click Log Out, the page reloads, but still gives me the option to log out, not in.

I guess this doesn't really matter, but it does have me scratching my head.

Any thoughts?

Ya know, it took me a year or more to figure out (I think) that being logged into the forum page also means one is supposedly logged into the forums also. Yes? No? There is something about all of this that really confuses me. It seems that I do everyday things, but then randomly I am asked to log in again to do that.

Still in training.


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Posted by MikeF90 on Saturday, May 11, 2019 3:30 PM

I recommend Cookie Quick Manager for Firefox users. From within the browser it lets me selectively delete site cookies, context cookies, and/or site local storage as needed.

Cookies can be used for good or evil and I would not recommend deleting all of them en masse unless you suspect a serious malware infestation.

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, May 10, 2019 9:14 PM

Overmod
new world of 'don't fix it if it doesn't pay'.

 

LOL, too true!

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Posted by tree68 on Friday, May 10, 2019 7:40 PM

Can't say as I've noticed it on the Kalmbach sites, but the hosts file I uploaded a while back certainly has cut down on my cookies and ads...

LarryWhistling
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My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date
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There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, May 10, 2019 7:38 PM

The slow loading I periodically observe is the result of malformed ad code.  The Kalmbach page code calls a routine (perhaps in part intended to set cookies) which the remote ad site can't or doesn't complete, hanging the page load.  

Of course, proper programmers don't write code that does that (or that relies on the integrity of inverted content).  But this is a brave new world of 'don't fix it if it doesn't pay'.

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Posted by Convicted One on Friday, May 10, 2019 7:20 PM

Semper Vaporo
I'd recommend "CCleaner"

I agree! That is a very useful utility that has corrected my "slowloading" problem a couple times.

I suspect that the "slow loading" problem here is caused, at least in part, by obsolete cookies from this site, which are mismanaged after they periodically  make updates to their software.

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Posted by Overmod on Friday, May 10, 2019 12:46 PM

Download CCleaner and Defraggler DIRECTLY FROM PIRIFORM when given the option -- do NOT use FileHippo unless you have to (or know your antivirus package is competent and up-to-date!)

Also get, and run, the free version of the malwarebytes Anti-Malware program.

Be advised that there are 'default options' for software "partner" downloads in the CCleaner install, notably installing wretched Chrome, that you must uncheck or refuse ... some of these may require scrolling down to find.

Be further advised that there is no guarantee that everything identified for 'cleaning' is actually stuff you want to get rid of.

The registry tool is a godsend... but DO save the removed items each time (and you will have to run the tool repeatedly each time, until it stops finding things to fix -- my personal record was six passes)

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Posted by Semper Vaporo on Friday, May 10, 2019 12:37 PM

LithoniaOperator:  I'd recommend "CCleaner" (yes, two "C"s on the beginning, it used to have a semi-vulgar word that the 1st "C" stood for and they took it out, just keeping the initial).  It is free for personal use and Generaly won't do anything to your computer that is harmful... especially if you don't alter the default settings to what it can clean.  (I am adventurous and often select things that could shoot me in the foot, but I dood it anyway!  And sometimes shoot me little feetsies or at least leave some powder burns.)

The more 'dangerous' selections will warn you about selecting them, but I'd recommend you investigate what the items are before you willy-nilly select more than the defaults.

I could extole on the program's virtues (and pitfalls for the unwary).  I do like the program.  If you (anyone) would like more info, send me a PM via this site and I will bore you with lots of details!

 

Balt:  The only thing that should go in cookies is chocolate chips... Oat Flour is fine, but Oat Meal rips up my intestines.  And I can never tell if those are raisins or flies that got in the dough.

 

Semper Vaporo

Pkgs.

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, May 10, 2019 12:00 PM

BaltACD

 

 
LithoniaOperator
And I learned a bit about cookies.

And was horrified to see how many are on my computer, and from whom! OMG. Further housekeeping is now on the docket.

 

And none of the cookies are oatmeal/raisin.

 

Which, in my book, is a doggone shame.

Still in training.


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Posted by BaltACD on Friday, May 10, 2019 11:18 AM

LithoniaOperator
And I learned a bit about cookies.

And was horrified to see how many are on my computer, and from whom! OMG. Further housekeeping is now on the docket.

And none of the cookies are oatmeal/raisin.

Never too old to have a happy childhood!

              

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Posted by Lithonia Operator on Friday, May 10, 2019 9:09 AM

Thanks, Flintlock and Semper. I took your advice, and then was able to log out/in. And I learned a bit about cookies.

And was horrified to see how many are on my computer, and from whom! OMG. Further housekeeping is now on the docket.

Still in training.


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