Safari, "Private Browsing" - why are cookies saved?

I normally use Private Browsing out of habit on all my computers using Safari but I do have a few questions on it -
Why are cookies saved even when "private browsing"? go to one genealogy site that requires membership and the cookies from that site are always present in my cache. Are pages also being saved in the page cache as well?
What is so "private" if info can be assembled?

HI Jim,
This from the Safari Help Menu:
About cookies
A cookie is a small file created by a website to store information. The cookie is stored on your computer. Cookies are normally helpful and harmless; it’s rare to encounter a bad cookie.
When you visit a website that uses cookies, the site asks Safari to put cookies on your computer. When you return to the site later, Safari sends back the cookies that belong to the site. The cookies tell the site who you are so that the site can show you information that’s appropriate for you.
Cookies can store information that identifies you, such as your name and email address. A website has access only to the information you provide. For example, a website can’t determine your email address unless you provide it. A website can’t gain access to other information on your computer.
When you use the default cookie preferences in Safari, you won’t know when Safari is accepting or sending cookies.
You can change your cookies preferences so that Safari doesn’t accept cookies or accepts them only from limited sources.
And here's more info: http://www.howstuffworks.com/question82.htm
Carolyn

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I've been using my email for months since I've had my pad then I get this notice, In order to use Yahoo Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off..why now

I've been using my email to my IPad for months since I've bought it the I got a notice, In order to use Yahoo Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off....why now after all these months is someone trying to hack in?

You turn private browsing off on the Safari page. Tap the + sign in the upper right corner, then tap private in the lower left corner. You know you're in private when the top of the screen is dark.

Safari private browsing is not private-pls advice

A good and bad thing about MBP is its transparency in documenting things done (things done today, past week etc). Everything is documented and available. It is disturbing of course if one is equipped with secrecy-genes.
In Safari private browsing is not quite private. As Christian Buerli wrote in MacFormat, uk on page 77 in summer 2008 "even with private browsing on, the domain names of visited, Flash enabled sites will be recorded to /Library/Prefs/Macromedia/FlashPlayer/#SharedObjects/.
My question is if I can dump all these shared objects (must be many hundreds of them) with no harm done to anything else.
pls advice,
pyry

Safari can keep your browsing history private. When you turn on private browsing, Safari doesn’t remember the pages you visit, your search history, or your AutoFill information, so your partner cannot see where you have been, but you must also remember to also turn off acceptance of cookies.
In all other respects Private Browsing is not as private as you might think:
http://www.switchingtomac.com/tutorials/how-to-make-safaris-private-browsing-fea ture-actually-private/
http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=9054
and then Apple's own advice from here: http://www.apple.com/pro/tips/privacy_safari.html
"Note that the Private Browsing option does not prevent Safari from collecting cookies (the preference files automatically generated by many websites). The Reset Safari option clears all cookies. If you want to delete only certain ones, choose Preferences from the Safari menu, click the Security tab, and then click Show Cookies. You can select and delete individual cookies from the list that appears. Careful, though — if you’re a frequent web user, this list can be very, very long."
which is itself incomplete, the relevant part being 'If you want to delete only certain ones.
To that end it is useful to have Safari Cookies installed, which is the only cookie manager available for Safari:
http://sweetpproductions.com/safaricookies/
which automatically deletes all cookies not marked as 'favourites' when closing Safari. It does the same for Flash Cookies, but they are subject for themselves:
From this website:   http://machacks.tv/2009/01/27/flushapp-flash-cookie-removal-tool-for-os-x/   For those who do not know about Flash cookies, more properly referred to as Local Shared Objects (LSO), they operate in a similar way to regular browser cookies but are stored outside the purview of your browser, meaning you cannot delete them from within your browser, whether Safari, Firefox, Opera or any other. Typically they are issued from sites or 3rd party sites that contain Adobe Flash content. Since virtually all internet advertising is delivered in Flash, Google/Doudleclick and all other internet advertising companies are sure to be tracking your browsing behavior with Flash cookies. These companies can see you traverse the Internet as you come upon the plethora of sites that contain their embedded advertising. Check out the Wikipedia entry here.  In Mac OS X they are stored in the following location: 
/User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/#SharedObjects
  The settings for the Flash cookies are stored in: /User’s Home Folder/Library/Preferences/Macromedia/Flash Player/macromedia.com/support/flashplayer/sys   In OS X Local Shared Objects, or Flash Cookies, are appended with a .sol suffix. Flush deletes all the Flash cookies (.sol) and their settings.  Flush can be downloaded from that page.  If you want to retain certain Flash cookies but not others, the excellent add-on for Safari called SafariCookies now includes a setting for automatically deleting flash cookies you don't want to retain, when Safari is shut down, in the same as it deals with ordinary cookies:  
http://www.sweetpproductions.com/safaricookies/index.htm   which not only does that but much more equally useful stuff!   This article covers the issue in more depth:  
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2009/08/you-deleted-your-cookies-think-again/   Flash cookies are also known as 'Zombie Cookies' and are used by a number of firms, including Hulu, MTV, and Myspace. Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at the internet security firm Sophos, told BBC News that the source of the trouble was Adobe Flash itself, which he called "one of the weirdest programs on the planet".  "I think it's highly unlikely that these large companies have abused Flash cookies - which are different from browser cookies - with malicious intent," he said.  "I think it's much more likely that the vast majority of users are simply oblivious to the bizarre way in which Adobe allows them to configure the software."   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-10787882   And a more recent article:   http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/technology/21cookie.html?_r=3&scp=1&sq=flash&s t=cse

Why are cookies not deleted when I close Firefox?

Hey,
My problem is that I set Tools / Options / Privacy / History to "Use custom settings for history", and then under cookies I set Keep until: to "I close Firefox".
Yet, when I close my browser and restart none of the cookies are deleted. If I save my tabs, I stay logged in on the websites that are open on the saved tabs. But even if I close the website, and then quit. And then reopen the website after launching Firefox again, I am still logged in. Whereas Firefox is set not to remember any of my usernames or passwords, so the only way this can happen is via cookies. Therefore, the cookies are not deleted. But I can also see it in the list of cookies: it's full of old stuff.
So why are cookies not deleted despite this setting?
Firefox has beeen pretty soft on privacy lately, and frankly I don't understand why. The possibility to have history older than X days automatically deleted has also been gone for a long time, and now this cookie setting doesn't work, either.

Hi madperson,
I turned this setting on a long time ago. Basically, it's one of the first things I do after installing my OS and Firefox. So there shouldn't be so many old cookies there.
But anyways, just now I deleted all the cookies manually via Tools / Options / Privacy / Show Cookies / Remove All Cookies to be sure that all the old stuff is wiped out. And yet it still doesn't work.
I logged in to my Gmail account (the Remember Me box ain't checked), closed the tab containing my Gmail account and then closed Firefox. After that I verified in the Task Manager that firefox.exe is indeed not running anymore. So Firefox definitely shut down properly. Then, I restarted Firefox and opened a tab, entered gmail.com, and I was still logged in, therefore the cookies were not deleted.
I have the 10.1.101.000 version of ZoneAlarm, which as it turns out after googling it is indeed not the latest version (it was released in March 2012). The ZoneAlarm Firefox add-on that automatically comes with the firewall is disabled in Firefox.

This message keeps coming up when I log in to my email ---In order to use Yahoo Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off

this message keeps coming up each time we try to log in to our email. In order to use Yahoo Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off"
I have gone to settings but you cannot turn off the private browsing anywhere
can someone help,us out?
thanks

You turn private browsing off on the Safari page. Tap the + sign in the upper right corner, then tap private in the lower left corner. You know you're in private when the top of the screen is dark.

When I try to open my Yahoo mail in safari, I get a message which states:" In order to use Yahoo mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings Safari Private Browsing, and turn off" The problem is my ipad does not a Private Browsing switch

When I try to open my Yahoo mail in safari, I get a message which states:" In order to use Yahoo mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings>Safari>Private Browsing, and turn off" The problem is, my ipad does not a Private Browsing switchat this location.

With iOS 7 on the iPad, you turn Private Browsing on and off by tapping the URL field. The screen that opens up has your bookmarks on it. In the bottom left corner is a hot button marked 'PRIVATE'. Tap on the word 'PRIVATE' to turn private browsing on or off. Yeah, there aren't any instructions anywhere that I can find to do this, and if you follow Yahoo's instructions, they don't work. This doesn't happen with the previous Apple OS, and you can restore your iPad to the older OS.

HT1677 In order to use Yahoo! Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off.

In order to use Yahoo! Mail, please turn Private Browsing off. Please go to Settings » Safari » Private Browsing, and turn it off.
Would this not make my privacy vulnerable?

With iOS 7 on the iPad, you turn Private Browsing on and off by tapping the URL field. The screen that opens up has your bookmarks on it. In the bottom left corner is a hot button marked 'PRIVATE'. Tap on the word 'PRIVATE' to turn private browsing on or off. Yeah, there aren't any instructions anywhere that I can find to do this, and if you follow Yahoo's instructions, they don't work. This doesn't happen with the previous Apple OS, and you can restore your iPad to the older OS.

Where is the safari private browsing setting

Where is the private browsing setting in safari on ipads, I can't access my emails because i have to turn off the private browsing setting but I can't find it.
It says settings - safari - private browsing - turn it off, thanks

Tap "Private" on Safari Screen to disable Private Browsing. When top of screen is white, Private Browsing is off.

Trying to get yahoo mail, says turn off Private Browsing, go to Safari, Private Browsing, turn off. But Private Browsing is not there

I am trying to get to my Yahoo mail and ipad is telling me to turn off Private Browsing, I go to Safari, Private Browsing to turn it off and I cant get to Private Browsing

Tap "Private" on Safari Screen to disable Private Browsing. When top of screen is white, Private Browsing is off.

TS1398 I can't use my yahoo mail. it says to turn private browsing off. it says to go to settings, safari, private browsing. mind dosen't have private browsing.

I can't use my yahoo mail. it says to turn private browsing off. it says to go to settings, safari, private browsing. mind dosen't have private browsing.

Make sure Private Browsing is off.
Tap "Private" on Safari Screen to disable Private Browsing. When top of screen is white, Private Browsing is off.

Safari Private Browsing is saving User Names

Safari is saving my user names in private browsing. I can't clear the information.
Example-- Say I reset safari, it opens up and I type in facebook.com-- my user name and password area is blank.. Now while I am on facebook.com I click private browsing without having typed any information in. I click private browsing and refresh the page and all of my information is filled in. I need all of this information to be cleared, I share my computer and can't have other people accessing this.
Thanks

Also delete the Flash cache:
~/Library/Caches/Adobe/Flash Player
If that doesn't work, proceed as follows.
Read this whole message before doing anything.
Back up all data.
Quit Safari if it’s running. Then select  ▹ Force Quit... from the menu bar. A small window will open with a list of running applications. Safari may appear in that list, even though you quit it. If so, select it and press return. Close the window.
Step 1
Hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the Finder menu bar. Delete the following items from the Library folder (some may not exist):
Caches/com.apple.Safari
Caches/com.apple.WebKit.PluginProcess
Caches/Metadata/Safari
Preferences/com.apple.WebKit.PluginHost.plist
Preferences/com.apple.WebKit.PluginProcess.plist
Saved Application State/com.apple.Safari.savedState
Leave the Library folder open. Try Safari again. If it works now, stop here. Close the Library folder.
Step 2
If you still have problems, quit Safari again.
Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:
☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the icon grid.
Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:
rm -fr $TMPDIR../C/com.apple.Safari
Quit Terminal. Launch Safari and test.
Step 3
If Safari still doesn’t work right, quit, go back to the Finder and move the following items from the open Library folder to the Desktop (some may not exist):
Cookies/Cookies.binarycookies
Preferences/com.apple.Safari.LSSharedFileList.plist
Preferences/com.apple.Safari.plist
Preferences/com.apple.Safari.RSS.plist
Preferences/com.apple.WebFoundation.plist
PubSub/Database
Safari
(Note: you are not moving the Safari application. You’re moving a folder named “Safari.”)
Try again. This time Safari should perform normally, but your settings and bookmarks will be lost.
If the issue is still not resolved, quit Safari again and put all the items you moved to the Desktop back where they were, overwriting the newer ones that will have been created in their place. You don’t need to replace the files you deleted in step 1. Stop here and post again.
If Safari is now working normally (apart from the lost settings), look inside the “Safari” folder on the Desktop for a file named “Bookmarks.plist”. Select File ▹ Import Bookmarks from the Safari menu bar. Import from that file. Recreate the rest of your Safari settings. You can then delete the items you moved to the Desktop.
Note: This step will remove your Safari Extensions, if any, and their settings. If you choose to restore them, do so one at a time, testing after each step to make sure you haven’t restored the problem.
If you don’t like the results of step 3, you can undo it completely by quitting Safari and restoring the items you moved or deleted in that step from your backup, overwriting any that were created in their place.

Why are the saved passwords in my browser deleted whenever I reboot my computer?

Every time I reboot my laptop all my saved passwords and download history are deleted and I have log into all the sites all over again. I checked in options and save passwords is checked and clear data and private browsing aren't. I don't understand why this is happening.

Are you using [[Clear Recent History]] to clear data on exit?
Do you have cleanup software like Cleaner?<br />
If you have then check the settings for the Firefox application in the CCleaner options.

Safari Private Browsing keeps cookies

I thought that Safari was supposed to purge the cookies added during private browsing as well...seems as if it did that before, but doesn't now.

HI Jim,
This from the Safari Help Menu:
About cookies
A cookie is a small file created by a website to store information. The cookie is stored on your computer. Cookies are normally helpful and harmless; it’s rare to encounter a bad cookie.
When you visit a website that uses cookies, the site asks Safari to put cookies on your computer. When you return to the site later, Safari sends back the cookies that belong to the site. The cookies tell the site who you are so that the site can show you information that’s appropriate for you.
Cookies can store information that identifies you, such as your name and email address. A website has access only to the information you provide. For example, a website can’t determine your email address unless you provide it. A website can’t gain access to other information on your computer.
When you use the default cookie preferences in Safari, you won’t know when Safari is accepting or sending cookies.
You can change your cookies preferences so that Safari doesn’t accept cookies or accepts them only from limited sources.
And here's more info: http://www.howstuffworks.com/question82.htm
Carolyn

Use of Private Browsing occasionally deletes cookies - anyone else?

I've noticed that since the change to Safari 3 in Leopard, if I turn on Private Browsing, do some surfing, then turn it off and quit Safari, when I next relaunch Safari some of my cookies set before I enabled Private Browsing sometimes go missing (e.g. sites I need to login to require I login again, where my login state is usually retained across Safari sessions.)
This does not occur if I do not toggle Private Browsing, and never occurred in Safari 2 in Tiger.
Anyone else see this?

Start Firefox in [[Safe Mode]] to check if one of the add-ons is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Tools > Add-ons > Themes).
* Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
See:
* [[Troubleshooting extensions and themes]]

Two Firefox Private Browsing sessions are sharing data.

I launched Private Browsing Firefox session & logged in to gmail then, I launch another Private Browsing Firefox session. This time, again I visit gmail.com & I got logged in to my gmail inbox without authentication even though I am in two different Private Browsing sessions. Then, again, I launched 3rd Private Browsing Firefox session, this time I visit google.com & I can see my gmail ID on right hand top corner.
I have opted “Automatically start Firefox in Private Browsing” as I don’t want to let google search keep my search history.
It seems like Firefox do share cookies & other data in Private Browsing sessions. So how these sessions can be called Private Browsing if they are sharing data?
Note: I have tried “Start Private Browsing” manual command as well but found no difference in behavior.

Dump firefox and use the File->New Session option in Microsoft's IE browser. I am a software developer and from my personal experience I can say that firefox sucks, and is the least secure browser out there.
You'll find this out when someone hijacks your bank account after you've accessed it using firefox.

Safari, "Private Browsing" - why are cookies saved?

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