Password Change

[Night Wing]

An oddity came up and I wanted to know if other people experienced this too concerning their password and keep in mind I'm "always logged in".

Starting this past Sunday afternoon while using the Pale Moon browser, when I visited this Pale Moon forum site, instead of being sent to the Forum Index page, I was sent to the Edit Account Settings tab in my Profile and was told to change my password. This struck me odd. I thought a hacker had hacked this site and was trying to steal my password or I had a keylogger virus on my computer. I could not get o the forum index page page as long as I was logged in with my old password.

However, I used my backup Firefox browser and got the exact same thing, being sent to the Edit Account Settings tab and was told to change my password. Again, I could not access the forum index page.

I logged out, clean out my cookies, cache and history and logged back in with my old password and was immediately sent to the Edit Account Settings tab. I even ran a virus and malware scans. It made no difference if I was using Pale Moon or Firefox. The result was the same. So after waiting three days, this morning I changed my password and this allowed me to get to the Forum Index page where I'm now typing this message. I'm concerned everything is not right on my computer since I've got an uneasy feeling which is nagging at me.

If this is a policy change where one has to change their password every now and then, could this have been posted in one of the public Forums such as the Announcement forum or a Sticky somewhere in another forum "before getting a rude awakening"? If this is a policy change, these types of changes with no warning, I'm not a fan of. I say this because when I was logged out, I could access the Forum Index page and I was looking for some type of public message telling us we had to change our passwords for a reason.

If this is not a policy change, then I apologize to Moonchild and it would seem my computer is somehow compromised.

[Rohugh]

An oddity came up and I wanted to know if other people experienced this too concerning their password and keep in mind I'm "always logged in".

I have not seen this, the only time I have to log in is when I load a new and different version of the browser and that just takes me to the standard login page.

[Blacklab]

@ Night Wing: Have not seen the forum log in problem you describe - and I think I would be at least wary if not suspicious and uneasy as you currently are! Like you I don't like any "surprises" or "out of the blue" requests to do with password or log in settings!

Incidentally, unlike you and Rohugh, I never use the forum auto-log in options and log in manually each time - this goes with my mild? paranoia about keeping any cookies - I wipe everything at end of each browsing session! I'm not a power surfer so this has no impact on my browsing but I appreciate this is not practical/convenient for most internet users.

If you haven't already done so, a trawl through the forum software maker phpBB's site: https://www.phpbb.com/ might be worth a try? They have large support forums and lots of info/guides on how the forum software actually works.

In fact it wasn't until I found their excellent BBcode guide page that I finally discovered how to achieve the fancier "bells and whistles" elements used when writing a post: https://www.phpbb.com/community/faq.php?mode=bbcode

@ Moonchild: Perhaps this little "howto post guide" needs a higher profile somewhere on Pale Moon forum so new members can access this useful information easily? Or yet again, am I just blind and have missed it somehow?
PS. No disrespect to Night Wing intended.... but shouldn't this topic really be on the "Forum and website" board?

I will be very interested to hear what triggered your Edit Account Settings/change password request. Good Luck!

[Night Wing]

Blacklab,

As of this moment, I can't find any reason why I was sent to the Edit Settings Account tab in my Profile. Maybe it was caused by a "gremlin" in the nether regions of cyberspace which I like to refer to as.....the Twilight Zone.


My next door neighbor ran some "technical stuff" on my computer and he can't find anything either.....and he's a power user. I'll be keeping a watchful eye on things.

[Moonchild]

Account passwords have to be changed once a year as a security measure. I don't post this "policy" on the board because it simply is common sense to change it now and then. There's nothing wrong with your computer or account, it is just a normal thing to do.

[stravinsky]

My next door neighbor ran some "technical stuff" on my computer and he can't find anything either.....and he's a power user. I'll be keeping a watchful eye on things.

I wouldnt trust any neighbour to poke inside my computer, specially my primary browser. More so if he is a 'power user'.

[Night Wing]

stravinsky,

When it comes to asking for technical "HELP", I ask my neighbor for it because he is a power user and as such, has much more knowledge of computers than I do because I am a non technical user. He owns his own small computer repair shop. He sits beside me and guides me with info while I do the "tap dance on the keyboard" with my computers per his instructions. More importantly, he's a very good friend and we go fishing, crabbing and kayaking together.

But, with me doing the keyboard dance, I've noticed I'm picking up more technical computer knowledge which I remember. With some of the stuff with lots of steps, if it's too long and I think I might forget it, I write it down for "future reference" if the problem ever crops up again.

There are benefits for him too. Since Mozilla is going to put social engineering into the Firefox 17.0 browser, whereas Pale Moon will not, today he downloaded Pale Moon 15.2 and put the browser on four of his personal computers (2 Desktops, 1 Desktop shop computer and 1 Laptop) all because he has liked the Pale Moon "test drives" he's been taking on my two Desktop computers when I've run into technical problems.

Who says a non technical person can't enlighten a power user?