Coventry Building Society on line "Down"

dosh37

It's ok - I managed to figure it out using the information in mozilla support:-

https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/enhanced-tracking-protection-firefox-desktop?as=u&utm_source=inproduct#w_what-to-do-if-a-site-seems-broken

I followed the instructions under...

What to do if a site seems broken

My Firefox was already configured to delete all cookies on exit in any case.

I assume that includes cookies containing tracking information.

pafpcg

dosh37 said:

It's ok - I managed to figure it out using the information in mozilla support:-

You cheated!  You read the instructions!  A proper beard & sandals-wearing guru never reads the instructions...

Descrabled

I successfully used Firefox on my android phone to enter my account on the Coventry website (not the Coventry app). I have used this technique previously when Coventry denied access on my desktop pc.

The Firefox app on my phone is linked to and gives access to the desktop version including bookmarks, etc.. Firefox is preferred over Google and Microsoft versions.

Rudyson

 You can check if this is the cause of your problem by selecting the "Custom" option and then toggling the sub-option for "Tracking content".  If this works, my fix was to revert back to "Strict" and exclude "https://secure.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk" from enhanced tracking protection.

Many thanks for this. I've had to use Edge the last few times I've logged in to Coventry, but unticking the 'tracking content' box in "Custom" worked perfectly

dosh37

Yesterday I managed to get 2FA to work on the Coventtry BS website using Firefox with browser privacy set to 'Strict' with "https://secure.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk" set as an exclusion.

Today that did not work. Instead I had to use 'Custom' with the 'Tracking Content' checkbox cleared.

For some reason, the exclusion URL appears to be ignored.

Do I need to click on the 'shield' icon to the left of the 'padlock' icon and set the slider in the resulting pull down menu to 'off' for 'Enhanced Tracking Protection' every time I visit that page? To me that seems plain stupid!

masonic

dosh37 said:

Do I need to click on the 'shield' icon to the left of the 'padlock' icon and set the slider in the resulting pull down menu to 'off' for 'Enhanced Tracking Protection' every time I visit that page? To me that seems plain stupid!

It should remember that setting the next time you visit. That's how I got around it.

pafpcg

dosh37 said:

Yesterday I managed to get 2FA to work on the Coventtry BS website using Firefox with browser privacy set to 'Strict' with "https://secure.coventrybuildingsociety.co.uk" set as an exclusion.

Today that did not work. Instead I had to use 'Custom' with the 'Tracking Content' checkbox cleared.

For some reason, the exclusion URL appears to be ignored.

Do I need to click on the 'shield' icon to the left of the 'padlock' icon and set the slider in the resulting pull down menu to 'off' for 'Enhanced Tracking Protection' every time I visit that page? To me that seems plain stupid!

That seems very odd. As @masonic says, it should just work. It sounds to me as if the URLs in the excluded web-sites list are not being saved or are being deleted after the end of the session.  Simple check:

- save the CoventryBS URL in the exclusion list

- login to CoventryBS account to prove it works

- shut-down Firefox

- re-open Firefox

- open the tracking exclusion list and see if the CoventryBS URL is still there:

- if it's still there, login to CoventryBS account:  successful login? 

  --- Yes: If the URL is there and login was successful - all OK

  --- No:  If the URL is there and login was NOT successful - Firefox fault?  Check the URL is correct?

- if the tracking exclusion list is empty in a new Firefox session, then I suspect your Firefox settings are preventing the list from being saved.  You said in yesterday's post: "My Firefox was already configured to delete all cookies on exit in any case".  Could that be the reason for the URL being lost?

Good luck!

dosh37

Following a conversation with mozilla support it appears the problem is down to a 'private browsing mode' setting under the 'History' menu:-

====

Under Settings->Privacy & Security->History I currently have... Firefox will 'Use Custom Settings For History'. 'Always use private browsing mode' is checked.

Okay, that is called automatic or permanent private browsing mode. Site permissions/exceptions cannot be saved to disk in that mode, they are only stored temporarily during your session. That's because they would indicate what sites you visit, which is contrary to the point of private browsing mode.

If you want to clear some things and not others, you need to switch to normal browsing and use the checkboxes instead. Or just continue to live with using that shield button a bit more often.

====

I would have expected the site information to be saved to disk using an encrypted file when using private browsing, however this is not the case. Rather than mess around wih my Firefox settings any further, I guess I will just have to remember to click the shield icon and disable Tracking Protection every time I logon to The Coventry.

The trackers used on the Coventry website are:-

https:mpsnare.iesnare.com

https:first.iovation.com

Apparently the first of these is normally blocked by Peter Lowe's ad and tracking server list in uBlock Origin. I had to disable the ad blocker for The Coventry website.

pafpcg

dosh37 said:

.....

I would have expected the site information to be saved to disk using an encrypted file when using private browsing, however this is not the case. Rather than mess around with my Firefox settings any further, I guess I will just have to remember to click the shield icon and disable Tracking Protection every time I logon to The Coventry.

......

 @dosh37 Don't give up just yet!

It appears that any changes you make to the tracking protection settings whilst in a Firefox Private Window are not saved and therefore won't be visible when in a subsequent Firefox session. So try this:

- open a standard Firefox window (ie a non-Private Window)

- add & save the CoventryBS URL to the exclusion list

- open a new Firefox Private Window session and check for the CoventryBS URL in the exclusion list.

It should be there and you can login to the Coventry without having to alter the tracking protection every time!

I tested this on my Firefox by opening a Private Window - the previously-set CoventryBS URL was visible. Private Windows appear to inherit standard settings.

dosh37

I tried a few things this evening...

First I checked the exception URL under Browser Privacy->Manage Exceptions.

That looked ok.

Then I unchecked 'Always Use Private Browsing Mode'

I set Browser Privacy to 'Custom' with 'Tracking Content blocked only in private windows'.

I found that in a standard (non-private) window, the passcode page is displayed ok.

In a private window, the passcode page is blocked.

i.e. the configured exception URL is ignored for private windows.

I then tried setting Browser Privacy to 'Strict'.

In this mode, Tracking Content is blocked in both standard and private windows.

Sure enough the passcode page is blocked in both.