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Mac OS X  |  Internet  |  Browsers  |  Apple Safari  |  Weird "Private Browsing" bug…

Apple Safari

Apple Safari

Browse the Web with speed and an elegant interface.

Version:  4.0.4

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Weird "Private Browsing" bug…

Feedback Type:  Review

Contributed by: Ptrix Wednesday, July 08 2009 @ 06:51 PM PDT

Product Platform: MacOSX

Used Product For: Less than a month

Ever since the Safari 4 beta, and continuing throw to 4.0.2, i've been experiencing a strange bug on my system whenever i enable the Private Browsing feature. Basically, when I enable it, it seems to automatically change Safari's security settings from 'Never Accept Cookies' to accept cookies 'Only From Sites I Visit', but without alerting me to the modification. And needless to say, i don't know why accepting cookies during what should be a private session would be in keeping with the concept of "Private Browsing". This did NOT happen in Safari 3.x, and I am at a loss to figure out why this is happening in Safari 4. I have Saft installed, but this happened before I installed it, and also happens when i uninstall it, so i don't think Saft is responsible.

am i the only person this is happening to, and if not, can anyone explain why Safari 4.x is behaving in this strange way? I have sent bug reports to Apple during the time Safari 4 was in open beta, and have sent bug reports every upgrade since, but they haven't fixed it, which leads me to believe that this behaviour is either intentional, or something's wrong with my system. Not sure which...   

3 of 3 users found this helpful.

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Comments

4 comments |

Weird "Private Browsing" bug… - Soren0

Did you use Apple's Bug Reporter?

if not, go to
http://bugreporter.apple.com

If you don't have an account, you can create a free one.

Apple actually does read the bugs submitted via the above website.

Hope this helps.

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Wednesday, July 08 2009 @ 07:30 PM PDT


Weird "Private Browsing" bug… - sjk

Maybe you're using some other app that shares cookies with Safari but doesn't have private browsing?

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Wednesday, July 08 2009 @ 09:25 PM PDT


Weird "Private Browsing" bug… - MacGuffin

I agree with you about the cookies, although it has never been my experience that Safari rejects cookies when private browsing is enabled, regardless of build (and I've been using Macs since before Safari was developed). I've always felt that Safari's cookie configuration options are primitive compared to Mozilla-based browsers, but then they don't offer a private browsing option. I suppose this is why so many of us rely on more than one browser--none of them seem able to do it all.

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Thursday, July 09 2009 @ 08:08 AM PDT


Weird "Private Browsing" bug… - freakomat

from safari's help docs:

When private browsing is on, webpages are not added to the history list, the Downloads window is cleared, information isn’t saved for AutoFill, and searches are not added to the pop-up menu in the search field. Any websites that store databases on your computer can’t modify the databases, so services normally available at such sites may be partially or completely unavailable until you turn off private browsing.
Any changes made to cookies during private browsing are discarded when when you turn off private browsing.

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Thursday, July 09 2009 @ 08:38 AM PDT