Browser hijack or something else? Firefox and Netscape Navigator

[ms.mousette]

Wonder if anyone can help with this one.

I use Google Mail and when you type the first character of your login email address a list appears beneath the log-in box of any log-in addresses that start with that letter (I have several email accounts).

I noticed yesterday, for the first time, that when I put the cursor in the log-in username box and before I typed the first letter that there was a list of previous used entries that I could select from, ie. a complete list in alphabetical order of all possible logins.

The first two were genuine user names for Google Mail accounts that I have.

The third and last was a "Gishpuppy" email address that I used to register on a particular site (Peter Russell World Clock).

http://www.gishpuppy.com/

http://www.peterrussell.com/Odds/WorldClock.php

There is no reason on earth why I would have tried to log in to Google Mail with a Gishpuppy email address.

I checked in Safari and Opera but there were no lists of previously used login names/email addresses for Google Mail to compare info across those browsers.

However, when I checked in Firefox, there were several genuine log-in email addresses in the list, plus the peterrussell one plus another gishpuppy one that I used to register for a trial version of Parallels desktop for Mac

http://www.parallels.com/


Does anyone have any ideas about what this might mean, and how to check if I have got something nasty on my Mac that might be causing this?

Best wishes,

Lizzie

 

[markojug]

Your browser is not hijacked. The box of the email accounts is there because they are saved onto Firefox's temporary files. They will stay there unless you change a setting or clear the private data.

 

[ms.mousette]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the quick reply and the reassurance

I am still wondering how those addresses got into the list of previously used log-ins though? I have never typed them in myself and I have lots of gishpuppy email addresses, why that one on Navigator and those two on Firefox?

I have just upgraded Firefox and the Gmail login has reverted to only showing the previous log-in list based on entry of initial letter. The two "rogue" ones are still there, but only show when I type letter "p".

I have tried entering other letters where there should be no previously used logoins list and it looks as if it is still only these two that are there when they shouldn't be.

Mmmm. Guess this would be because I will have cleared the private data in the past and deleted temp files for other occasions when I have entered a gishpuppy address into a registration or login form on a website?!

Got it

Many thanks again Mark - Phew!

Best wishes,

Lizzie

 

[markojug]

If the Gmail ones are in Firefox and the other in Netscape, it is because you probably imported the Private Data from Navigator. At the start, Firefox asks you to import private data from your other internet browsers.