Sign in, sign out, sign in, sign out, sign in, sign out, sign in s..............

woodbowl · December 04, 2005, 07:35:02 PM

When I open up www.forestryforum.com the first thing I do is to take a look at the opening pictures to see what's comming out of the gallery. Then I scroll back up to see who all is on line. Then I do my little ritual of logging on. The home page opens up and .............. I'm off to catch up on everything while I was off line, click up some old post an check a PM or two. When I get through or get run off the computor, I just log out and minimize the off line page. I can always log back in later. Every now and then after logging out I will get back on only to find that I was not logged out! I know I logged out! What's going on? So maybe it's a computor thing. I've gotten pages to inform me that I was not logged out, but that is different. This is informing me that I AM logged out! So now I can go ahead and shut down right? ............. Today I realized that after logging off last night, It appears that I was up all night last night and all day today.

Jeff · December 04, 2005, 07:44:06 PM

Why would you log out on your own computer? Unless you are concerned that another family member may pretend to be you, I wouldn't. I never log off of my computer. The forum does not see you as logged in when you are gone, wheather you log out or not. I think some people have the misconception that thier name is on the online list all the time if they dont log off and that is not so. Your name will drop off the list after 15 minutes if no data has moved from your I.P. address.

woodbowl · December 04, 2005, 08:15:20 PM

Quote from: Jeff B on December 04, 2005, 07:44:06 PM
I think some people have the misconception that thier name is on the online list all the time if they dont log off and that is not so. Your name will drop off the list after 15 minutes if no data has moved from your I.P. address.

I log on to my email because it says log on. The reason I log off is because it says log off. It seems important so I log out on other sites as well. This is my observance of a change in pattern of the on line list from my end.

Furby · December 04, 2005, 08:31:28 PM

I ALWAYS (except when the puter crashes or some other problem) log in and out of everything I can!
Simply put, I consider it a saftey step.
Yes, my family or anyone around my puter could "pretend" to be me, but also anyone that breaks in or in my case with a laptop, swipes it from my car, could then access stuff before I have a chance to do anything about it.
My puter is also password protected, partly because it's a laptop, but that's not the only reason.
I've had others use my puter to screw things up in the past without my knowledge. Even though I may forget to log out on some things once in a while, I see it as a security step to do so when ever I can.

Stop and look at how many things has your password saved on your puter, it may surprise you.
Now what if someone with few morals had access to that puter for a little bit..............

Jeff · December 04, 2005, 08:31:36 PM

Generally, the logging off is for your security in a password protected area, so someone cant step in and "Be You". Email certainly should be logged off from if you are on a public or multi user computer. Same goes for membership type websites if again, you are using a public, or muti user computer. As for the forum, the software could care less. As I sadi, as far as it is concerned, after 15 minutes of inactivity, and that inactivity can also be defined where you are making a post, if over 15 minutes has passed, the forum considers you gone. People that take over that to type out a post sometimes find out the hard way and lose what they were typing.

Jeff · December 04, 2005, 08:34:14 PM

Furby, I could get almost any password you ever used off your computer in about 20 minutes, even if you are logged off. If someone steals your computer, dont be lulled into a false security that you logged off of things is going to save you from someone that knows how to get information.

Furby · December 04, 2005, 09:12:06 PM

Oh, I understand that, but it slows most people down a bit.
There will always be those that know how to get around everything, but they will have to work for it a bit.
That's different then someone, say Joe Blow being able to grab the puter, turn it on, and find say a bank account in my history and have access to it in 60 seconds or less.

I may not have it 100% secure, but I'm not gonna make it easy either. ;)

Modat22 · December 04, 2005, 09:15:26 PM

if you are concerned about security, download encrypted drive protection, it sets up a virtual drive on your computer and is protected with public encryption. Its pretty hard to crack.