Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Lolu chungechunge lwabekwa kunqolobane. Uyacelwa ubuze umbuzo omusha uma udinga usizo.

How Do Gmail and YouTube know who I am when I am logged out?

  • 2 uphendule
  • 1 inale nkinga
  • 4 views
  • Igcine ukuphendulwa ngu firefoxx1

more options

How does the login for the YouTube website prefill with my account information when I have logged out, deleted all the information the browser has connected with YouTube, and activated a proxy to hide my ip address?

The prefill is more than just a prefilled form. I have attached an image of what comes up. It looks to me as if those sites are identifying my accounts at the server end. I have deleted everything in the storage section of the browser inspector application (another picture attached). I also activated a proxy to hide my ip address.

What can I do to Firefox so that when I go to Gmail or Youtube they don't already know it is me?

How does the login for the YouTube website prefill with my account information when I have logged out, deleted all the information the browser has connected with YouTube, and activated a proxy to hide my ip address? The prefill is more than just a prefilled form. I have attached an image of what comes up. It looks to me as if those sites are identifying my accounts at the server end. I have deleted everything in the storage section of the browser inspector application (another picture attached). I also activated a proxy to hide my ip address. What can I do to Firefox so that when I go to Gmail or Youtube they don't already know it is me?
Ama-screenshot ananyekiwe

Isisombululo esikhethiwe

YouTube logins are actually Google logins, so you would need to clear your Google cookies.

When do you want Firefox to lose those cookies?

When Firefox Closes

It's fairly easy to set Firefox to lose a particular site's cookies at the end of your session by creating an exception in the "Manage Permissions" dialog (Cookies section of the Privacy & Security panel on the Preferences page -- "Allow for Session").

When I remove them manually

The Cookies section of the Privacy & Security panel on the Preferences page also has a "Manage Data" button that lets you remove cookies for particular sites without having to return to that site. So you could remove the Google cookies there. Unfortunately, it is a bit of clicking and scrolling to open the list.

Something more convenient

You might consider using an add-on that can remove cookies after a period of inactivity, or maybe on demand when you click a toolbar button. I haven't tested any myself.

Funda le mpendulo ngokuhambisana nalesi sihloko 👍 0

All Replies (2)

more options

Isisombululo Esikhethiwe

YouTube logins are actually Google logins, so you would need to clear your Google cookies.

When do you want Firefox to lose those cookies?

When Firefox Closes

It's fairly easy to set Firefox to lose a particular site's cookies at the end of your session by creating an exception in the "Manage Permissions" dialog (Cookies section of the Privacy & Security panel on the Preferences page -- "Allow for Session").

When I remove them manually

The Cookies section of the Privacy & Security panel on the Preferences page also has a "Manage Data" button that lets you remove cookies for particular sites without having to return to that site. So you could remove the Google cookies there. Unfortunately, it is a bit of clicking and scrolling to open the list.

Something more convenient

You might consider using an add-on that can remove cookies after a period of inactivity, or maybe on demand when you click a toolbar button. I haven't tested any myself.

more options

It took a few tries to get all the moles whacked, but it worked!

You made quite a few suggestions. I am sure there is more than one way to accomplish my objective of getting to youtube without the Mad Evil Dr. Google (the same Mad Evil Dr. Google who infuses his services with political bias and then lies about it) knowing it is me (It's his lying about his political bias that bothers me the most). He will know who I am when I sign in, so I am not sure what good this does for me. I guess it was just making me feel unsafe that Mad Evil Dr. Google could recognize me without me knowing how.

The crucial tip for me was your suggestion that I needed to deal with both youtube and google domains. At first, I did not understand, because on youtube I saw only youtube domain in browser storage. What I failed to recognize previously is when logging into youtube, browser storage is not only for youtube domains, but google storage as well.

Currently, the browser storage for both those domans is blanked out on FireFox browser, but you can see both domains are open for business in browser storage. The attached image shows what I mean.

Thank you for the great help. You made my day.

Okulungisiwe ngu firefoxx1