* Hints

[gwilym'smum]

Hi, not sure if it is my computer or FMP. When I click on the hints sometimes they appear perfectly clearly, sometimes they are partially greyed out and at others all I can see are the box outlines and the text is unreadable. If I return to the person and try again they often come up clearly. Also on the topic of FMP does anyone else have to sign in quite regularly, particularly if you haven't been on for a couple of days.
Ann

[tatewise]

Check out how_to:internet_data_matches|> Internet Data Matches for general advice, and suggestions about signing-in to different browsers and enabling cookies. However, web sites may well have sign-in inactivity timeouts.

The thread Find My Past pale hints (13876) reported the similar greyed out symptoms.
Workable solutions included maximising the Web Search window and using Tools > Preferences > Internet Data Matches > Location to Display Matches = External Web Browser.

[Gowermick]

Ann,
I've noticed a change to FMP login recently, which may account for your problem.
From the main page, I used to click Login/subscribe, which opened a new page with my saved login details displayed, and all I had to do was click login again to be taken to main search page. This sequence has now changed!

Now when I click login/subscribe, I am taken to a screen for new subscribers, and I have to click yet another login, before being taken to the page where my login details are filled out! I then have to click login for the third time before proceeding to main search page.

Why they think new subscribers need precedence over existing subscribers is beyond me

[gwilym'smum]

Thank you both for your advice. I will check out everything you recommend. I emailed FMP about constantly having to sign in and all they said was 'don't sign out' which I don't do anyway. I don't have the problem with Ancestry. Ann

[LornaCraig]

I have the same problem with FMP. The 'Remember me' box is always ticked when I sign in, and I never sign out, so about 80% of the time when I go to FMP I am automatically logged in. But every few days I find I am not. Annoyingly I often don't notice until I click to view a search result and then it asks me to sign in, then I have to start again with the search. It has been like this for a couple of years, I think!

[AnneEast]

Me too Lorna! It always logs you out at a crucial moment as well. Having logged in again it doesn't always take you back to the search you were doing. It really is infuriating and happens about every 10 days or so.
Anne

[Russell]

The reason that you cannot stay logged in continuously is down to one particular cookie, which Findmypast stores on your computer when you first login.

I leave the 'Keep me logged in' option checked, as only I use this PC. However, FMP still automatically allocates an expiry date to the cookie, so you get the behaviour referred to above.

I have just verified this by going to FMP and carrying out a search - I had logged in several days ago.

I then stayed on the FMP web page and manually cleared the cookie, which they call 'Livesession'. I tried to search from the open page, but this time instead of carrying out the search I was taken to the login page before I could proceed.

I suspect that the expiry date, which is set seven days from the time of login, is part of FMP's security policy. If your device is lost or stolen, it limits the period of time which somebody else could use your FMP account but is not so short a period as to cause the majority of genuine users significant inconvenience. Other sites will set their own policies - as was mentioned above, Ancestry does not seem to have such a strict limit and I can't recall when I last logged in. Strangely, if you have a subscription to FMP or Ancestry as I have, I would not lose out financially if somebody else did get access to my PC, which seems to make the expiry date irrelevant. As they also have pay as you go models, maybe the cookie is set in the same way regardless of which payment method you utilise in an attempt to reduce the number of variables to code for when designing the site.

eBay on the other hand have a 'keep me logged in' option which actually does do what it says. They do suggest to deselect this if you are using a public or shared device, but given the damage that somebody else could do to your bank balance, perhaps this should be an opt in, rather than an opt out - if it is available at all.

I know that it is very convenient not to have to login each time we want to use a particular site, but perhaps we should all think a little bit more about worst case scenarios, particularly as we seem to be moving rapidly towards the use of small portable devices rather than large desktop units which are not so easily removed.

[davidm_uk]

I then stayed on the FMP web page and manually cleared the cookie, which they call 'Livesession'. I tried to search from the open page, but this time instead of carrying out the search I was taken to the login page before I could proceed.

I suspect that the expiry date, which is set seven days from the time of login, is part of FMP's security policy.

.....and Chrome browser (and maybe others) stores it's cookies in an encrypted SQL database, so it would be very difficult to hack into it and change the expiry date so as to keep logged in for longer!

[LornaCraig]

Russell, Thanks for the information on that specific cookie. It would be helpful if FMP made it clear that option to stay signed in has such a short time span.

I emailed FMP about constantly having to sign in and all they said was 'don't sign out' which I don't do anyway.

It sounds as if FMP themselves don't know about their own cookie!

[Valkrider]

Looking at the Cookies in Firefox there are two with the id of Registered User that both have a very short time to expiry (this week in my case 5th and 6th). The others all have much longer expiry dates some as late as 2025 others as early as 2018.

Luckily there is a plugin available for Firefox that allows the changing of the expiry date that I am going to try. It may be worth seeing if there is a similar plugin for Chrome.

[LornaCraig]

I too use Firefox and found the 'Livesession' cookie Russell referred to. It was set to expire in 5 days, but have now extended that to a year! I guess if the user does ever sign out, then when they sign back in a new short-term cookie date will be set, so must try not to sign out accidentally.

[davidm_uk]

Yes, there are a couple of plugins for Chrome to enable editing cookies. I've downloaded and installed this one :

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/deta ... gfbg?hl=en

Click the Add To Chrome button. You then have to go into the Chrome setup menu (the 3 vertical dots at the top right of the menu bar, select More Tools.....Extensions, then find EditThisCookie in the list and enable it. A little yellow circle with back dots then appears near those 3 dots in the menu bar (I had to close and restart Chrome before they appeared).

Then sign in to FMP, and once you are in, click that yellow circle and a list of cookies appears for that site. The one you want is called Livesession, click on it and at the bottom of the list the details of that cookie are displayed, with the Expiration date. Click on the date to modify it.

I haven't tested it yet!

[AnneEast]

I'll be interested in your experience then! Today I had laboriously gone through a LOT of newspaper searches, clicked the one I wanted .... and you've guessed it. Out on my ear. Bah!
Anne

[tatewise]

Sometimes, when that sort of thing happens, after sign-in, try using the browser <- Go Back button to return to the page you wanted, and go forward again from there. Often the Go Back returns to the correct page, but now you are signed-in, so everything works as expected.

It certainly, works here in the FHUG Forums, when you take too long composing a posting and Submit says you are not logged-in because it has timed-out due to inactivity.

[LornaCraig]

An update on that Findmypast 'Livesession' cookie. On 3 May I changed it to expire in a year's time, but that only 'stuck' for ten days. I have just had to sign in again. Exasperating!

[gwilym'smum]

Hi Lorna, I was also looking on the forum a couple of days ago and wondered why there weren't any posts I hadn't read. When I tried to reply I realized I had to sign in. I hadn't realized I wasn't logged in. Don't know why this happened as I am on usually twice a day. The only think was there was a Windows update round about the same time and I must have lost my link then.
Ann

[russellf97]

To go back to the original question about greyed out Hints, if you click on the Focus Window icon and then the Hints icon, they will be back to being fully readable.

[tatewise]

Yes Phil, that is what Ann said she must do in her original posting, but often must repeat it.

[gwilym'smum]

Hi, it is not such a problem having to click again if you are just dealing with one person but I am trying to download all the relevant birth, marriage, death and 1939 images for everyone in my project. I can get the censuses from Ancestry but I will probably only keep the FMP for the one year. So far I am half way through H! (2,800 people) I only take the full reference and then when I come to link them will analyse each one. That is why if the hints are clear I can quickly scan them and move on. Thanks for everyone's thoughts.
Ann

[tatewise]

Ann, I presume you already have BMD Events with Source Citations for the cases you are are researching.
If not, then have you considered the Lookup Missing BMD Records Plugin?
Similarly, if you have not entered Census Events for the 1939 Register, then try the Lookup Missing Census Facts Plugin.

[gwilym'smum]

Hi Mike, I hadn't actually considered the plug ins. It is certainly a good idea, the only thing is, with some people I have the event say from England and Wales Collection or some other source or index, from Ancestry or Freebmd, but on FMP I am able to get the image of the register so would the plug in omit the ones with the recorded event but no image? Also sometimes I have the marriage event but occasionally there are banns. Thank you once again for the ideas. Ann

[Gowermick]

Further to my previous post re logging into FMP. It was my fault Apparently the login/subscribe link is actually two links-duh, login and subscribe. It just so happened that when clicking on what I thought was a single link, I'd always managed to click the subscribe part. Now I know, it does take me to the correct login screen!

All I've got to do now is stop firefox from deleting the login details before I press login! The details appear briefly when page opens, which my brain registers, but disappear before I click login, which I hadn't registered. I end up with message saying login details incomplete - please re-enter. The symptoms are similar to those I experienced after the changes made to this forum, when it went from HTTP to HTTPS. I'll play around later and let you know the outcome.

UPDATE: Not the same problem FMP is already a secure https site! Must be a firefox problem, as FMP login works on iPad!

[tatewise]

Mike,
Those Firefox/FMP sign-in symptoms have only recently started, and are the same in Chrome.
So it is probably not actually Firefox or Chrome or FMP but I think it is the Avast anti-virus site rating.
Anyway, after the Username & Password appear and vanish, I left-click the Password box and my Username is offered in a drop-list, which when clicked fills in both Username & Password that stick so Sign in button works.

Ann,
The Lookup Missing BMD Records Plugin uses a sophisticated set of rules to determine if a BMD record is missing.
See plugins:help:lookup_missing_bmd_records:frequently_asked_questions|> F.A.Q. under What factors determine that a BMD Record is missing?
So for example, if you have a Marriage Event with an exact Date and a Source Citation then its record is NOT missing.
But if either the Date is inexact or there is no Source Citation then the record is considered missing and a lookup will ensue.

Thus, if your BMD Events exist with exact Dates and Source Citations and just the Media image is missing, then the Plugin will NOT help with those cases.

[Gowermick]

I hear what you say Mike, but if it is Avast ( whatever that is), why isn't safari affected? And why should Avast suddenly think FMP is no longer rated safe, and why not just block sign-in in the first place. Why let firefox fill in the details, then remove them? I've posted this on firefox forum too, let's see what they have to say.

[tatewise]

Avast is a highly rated and very popular free anti-virus product.
I am guessing you use Safari on iPad that will NOT have Avast installed.
Cannot explain why Avast is doing what it does, but it was similar when FHUG was using http:
What anti-virus are you using?