cookies?

Is that what they are called when a website remembers you? Sharing a computer the "guest" visits a website using their facebook account and when i want to use the same website and participate my posts are not showing up.How does one separate the two? I too am using my facebook as a method to communicate on the forum. Soon my computer will be solely for my use, will their "cookies" still be on the guest account? Family member well trusted no monkey business by them, Thanks

Yes, cookies are what websites use to remember certain settings including usernames. However, passwords are managed by the browser themselves (whether internally or through external tools such as the Keychain).

If you're concerned about conflicting data, you've got two options. First, use a browser that has profiles or user accounts. Firefox, Opera and Chrome all have some version of those (Safari might as well but if it does, I'm not aware of it). If that doesn't work, you could make use of the private browsing feature which will prevent any data from being saved when someone uses your computer (including cookies). Every browser has this functionality.

Yes, websites leave cookies with the browser to keep track of incoming visitors. When a guest account uses your computer it is advisable to tell them not click on the any "Remember me" or "Remember my credentials" checkboxes that places cookies to allow people to login to a website without reentering their password..

You should also have them clear the browser cache when they are done to ensure that nothing is left behind..

The other alternate is to use two separate browsers..or set the browser config to not accept cookies..

Setting up users in Chrome, manage profiles in Firefox, Opera profile management (not as intuitive but it should work).

EDIT: Just noticed that you're using 10.5 so Chrome won't work on your machine nor will a recent version of Firefox.

Well the new computer is here 10.8.2 pretty cool. As I said to my wife, me having this much computer is like purchasing a mazerati to pick up groceries.

Anyway I need some help. My friend uses his facebook account to post on message boards and I do as well sharing the same computer. I downloaded firefox and asked him to use it when he goes online. We participate on some of the same sites yet we are unable to see each other's comments. Did the website block us thinking we are the same person?
It was suggested to set up a account for him on firefox, I need some more detailed instructions on how to do that. I use safari. thanks.

You wouldn't create an account in Firefox per say, but as you visit websites and enter you credentials, all browsers give you the option to cache that information so that you don't have to re-enter them. This is in addition go the website themselves putting cookies to "Remember you"..

Typically, if you're going to be sharing a computer with another person constantly, you want to make sure that the website doesn't remember you and when prompted by the browser to save your credentials, you want to say "Never for this site"..

This forces each of you to login to the websites on each visit and that's what you want. Also, you might want to get in the habit of logging off each website as you leave them..

If you use two different browsers and two different sets of login credentials, the only way (that I can think of) that a website would somehow conclude that you were the same person would be in detecting that you are both coming from the same IP. It's very possible that it logs the IP of your machine and it's certainly possible that it thinks you're trying to set up multiple accounts. However, in that case, it likely would have banned one of you.

In addition to vansmith's suggestions, remember that OS X offers a disposable "guest" account.

Bottom line: I don't let anyone else use my account for any reason. If they are guests who need to borrow my computer, they can use the Guest account. If this is going to happen on a regular basis, then I set them up with their own account.

Far easier, IMO, than learning to manage "user profiles" on individual programs.

vansmith said:

If you use two different browsers and two different sets of login credentials, the only way (that I can think of) that a website would somehow conclude that you were the same person would be in detecting that you are both coming from the same IP. It's very possible that it logs the IP of your machine and it's certainly possible that it thinks you're trying to set up multiple accounts. However, in that case, it likely would have banned one of you.

Click to expand...

And that is what I think happened. Appreciate all the feedback guys.

vansmith said:

It's very possible that it logs the IP of your machine

Click to expand...

Just to note that ALL websites (repeat, ALL) log IP addresses. Even your home router does this.