Google Password Manager Enabled

Jim Bushman

We discovered today that a patron that uses Google Password Manager did not log out of their Google account before when they signed off from the Patron account. When the staff came in the next day, Chrome was still logged into the patron’s account and all of their passwords were now visible and accessible. We logged out of the patron’s account to protect the account. Short of warning and reminding patrons to log out of their Google accounts when the sign off, is there any way to automatically log patrons out of Google when they sign out of the Patron account?

Chas Howell

Last Sunday at the FSC we had a patron try to login to his gmail. But he found another user's gmail was still logged in. Using Chrome & Win 11. So, maybe the ChromeOS Flex computers will solve this issue?

Jim Bushman

Our computers are not ChromeOS. We just received new Windows 11 computers.

don_kimball

Computers with the ChromeOS Flex operating system will automatically log out anyone signed into their Google account when they end their session (by shutting down, restarting, or clicking on the "End Session" button).

With Windows 10 or 11, there aren't any settings within the Chrome browser that I have found that will automatically log a user out of their Google account when they close the Chrome browser. Deleting the Chrome browser's cookies and cache can log a user out of their Google account, but that requires creating a script that launches when the computer restarts, which takes an advanced level of computer skills.

Another option is to load Google's account log out page every time the browser is launched by adding it as a startup tab. Here are some instructions to set this up:

1. Click on the 3 vertical dots in the upper-right of the Chrome browser and select "Settings"
2. In the tab the loads, click on "On startup" in the left menu
3. Under the "On startup" section, click on "Open a specific page or set of pages", which allows you to specify a list tabs to load when Chrome launches. My preference is to load these pages in this order, but you can add/remove or order them as you prefer:

https://www.familysearch.org/
https://www.familysearch.org/centers/portal
https://mail.google.com/mail/?logout&hl=en

The last link is the link that Google uses to sign out of their accounts. If someone has left their account logged in, loading this tab, even in the background, will log them out. The one drawback is that this tab is left open to the Google account login screen, which might confuse some patrons.

Jim Bushman

Thanks, this is helpful. As I researched options I also came across the SiteData Chrome Setting (chrome://settings/content/siteData). You can also get to this via the Settings menu:

Chrome Settings>Privacy and security>Site settings>Additional content settings>On-device site data

The recommendation was to select the radio button Delete data sites that have been saved to your device when you close all windows. The note below the radio button says, "Sites will probably work as expected. You'll be signed out of most sites when you close all Chrome windows, except your Google Account if you're signed in to Chrome."

It seems this might be a good option as well to use in conjunction with adding the Google sign out link as we also have patrons that use Norton Password Manager and forget to sign out of it. Similarly, patrons log into their Amazon account and don't sign out. Would it be advisable to use this setting as well?

don_kimball

I didn't suggest using the "On-device site data" setting because of the downsides that are mentioned. The second option doesn't even sign you our of your Google Account, and the third option would probably break one or more sites that are regularly used at the FSC.

Has anyone tested the second or third option of the "On-device site data" setting? Did sites work ok that are typically used at an FSC (FamilySearch, premium websites)?

At what point do we teach these people a lesson who don't sign out? Send embarrassing emails to their contacts? Buy something using their Amazon account? Drain a bank account or two?

Jim Bushman

I actually meant they stay signed into their “Ancestry” account, not Amazon ;).