Tuesday, May 22, 2007

Bug Report - Changing password forces undesired logout

Bug Report: "When I try to change my password or settings it just takes me back to the login screen, which I had just entered my information into."

Error: To keep a user logged into his/her account, the system looks for a matching username and password cookie. As soon as a user changed their password, the cookie information no longer matched -- and the system required the user to re-log back in.

Progress:

  • Bug reported on 5/22/2007
  • Identified error on 5/23/2007
  • Tested solution in Internet Explorer and Firefox on 5/24/2007
  • Implemented solution on 5/24/2007
BlogPatrol's Solution: Coded changes for the system to seamlessly reset the cookie to the user’s new password without requiring the user to input their credentials again.

Action that you may need to take: If you're still having trouble logging in and/or changing settings on your BlogPatrol account, try clearing the cookies on your computer. If you are not sure how to do this, then follow these instructions:
Internet Explorer browser
1. Click on Tools -> Select Delete Browsing History
2. Click on the Delete all... button
3. Select the checkbox that says "Also delete files and settings stored by add-ons."
4. Click the Yes button
5. A status window should appear for at least a few seconds showing that the browser is removing the cookies and the browser information.
and
Firefox browser
1. Click on Tools -> Select Options
2. Click on the icon labeled Privacy
3. Click on the Settings button in the section labeled Privacy Data
4. Select the checkboxes for cookies and cache
5. Click on the OK button
6. Click on the Clear now button
7. Click on the OK button
Now, as a test, login to your BlogPatrol account, change password or another account setting, go back to "counter options" (are you still logged in? ...you should be!). Now logout and then log back in using the new password.

Are you still having problems with staying logged in? Check the settings of any anti-spyware and/or anti-virus software running on your computer:
Try adding http://www.blogpatrol.com as either (a) a trusted site and/or (b) site from which your computer allow "cookies" in your anti-spyware, anti-virus, and Internet browser settings.
Please let us know if you encounter any problems with this issue.

If you like this article, then click on this link to "Digg It" and help promote BlogPatrol.com. Thanks!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's not working. Blog Patrol says I have no visitors (and have had only a couple since you relaunched). Other tools indicate that I do have visitors.

Tony said...

Hi George,

At the end of May 2007, we initiated a critical next step for improving our service, which is to audit the stats tracking from top-to-bottom.

This type of intensive audit requires inspection of all the code, including inputs and outputs, to verify where improvements and bug fixes can be made to the stats tracking portion of our service.

I don't know when this audit will be completed because it involves a discovery process that will reveal the full scope of effort needed as we progress. I can tell you that this auditing process is our #1 internal priority.

We are able to do this audit now, and not ever before, because we have finally found the right talent to help us take BlogPatrol where it needs to go to be: reliable, accurate, and fast.