7 ms·

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but Catalina is letting me login without entering my password! I have two users on my machine. 1. I "lock screen" fr

I'm not sure if anyone has seen this yet, but Catalina is letting me login without entering my password! I have two users on my machine. 1. I "lock screen" from the Apple menu and close the lid. 2. I reopen the lid and it does not ask for password. 3. I start using laptop and lock screen suddenly pops up, but asks password for the wrong user. 4. I hit random key and the screen goes away, and i can continue working. Also, it looks like a lot of settings don't work on the lock screen / choose user screen. For instance, the pointer speed doesn't match what I have set, font sizes don't match either, and the resolution looks wrong. In all... It feels like windows?

temac 7y ago
Despite having a lower quality than before since a few years, Windows has login and locking features that actually work (and I don't even really remember of bugs in there, like ever), so no, from what you describe it does not feel like Windows at all, it feels like some completely broken crap.
- extrapickles 7y ago
  There were some good bugs in the login part of windows 2000/XP. Most of the ones I know of involve opening a browser while still on the login screen (my favorite was in the help for the screen reader), which is running as the System user that has complete control over the system.
  - Lutzb 7y ago
    IRC this was only possible on windows 95 and maybe 98.
    - jl6 7y ago
      You could do this on XP too.
    - extrapickles 7y ago
      They fixed most of them somewhere around XP SP2 or SP3, where they pretty much disabled help functionality on everything on the lock screen. When Cortana was introduced, they had some issues of being able to launch the browser while the machine was still locked (though as the user that the computer was locked by). You couldn't do much as the previous bugs as the lock screen still covered everything.
- als0 7y ago
  While on the subject, on Linux I've also noticed that Xscreensaver (or GNOME screensaver, can't remember which) sometimes goes straight into the desktop after wakeup for a few seconds before the lock screen prompt actually appears. You can even run programs. Really bizarre and feels like this issue has been present for a while now. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
  - tedunangst 7y ago
    X locking is notoriously difficult.
    - dddddaviddddd 7y ago
      I run xlock on suspend rather than on resume, seems more reliable. I'm any case, locking is trivial to bypass by pressing Control-C a few times on resume to kill xorg, hence why I also start X with "startx; exit" so that this drops to the login prompt instead of the shell.
      - Liskni_si 7y ago
        I think this still isn't secure. Try "sleep 5; exit" and press C-Z. You won't be logged out. You probably want to use "exec startx" instead.
        dddddaviddddd 7y ago
        Thank you, I took a look at my shell man page and this is very helpful.
    - als0 7y ago
      I'm interested to understand why. Is it because of the design of Xorg?
      - 13rac1 7y ago
        Yes, it's one of the reasons Wayland was created. Screensavers didn't exist when X was designed. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTI5MQ https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTI5MQ > Right now with screensavers under X it's basically capturing the input and continually redrawing over the display. > With Wayland, Kristian plans for the lock-screen to be part of the Wayland compositor. In having the compositor handle the screensaver role, it can ensure that no window can appear atop the screensaver surface, it can properly detect idling and grabs already, and has complete control over the screen. Unlike the X design, there wouldn't even need to be a screensaver "window" that's on top but the compositor could just keep painting a black screen. For those interested in a "fancy screensaver", a plug-in could be used or an out-of-process Wayland client for drawing whatever you desire.
- navidkhn1 7y ago
  Wouldn't know about the windows lock screen particularly, and I haven't been a windows user since Vista, but such low quality software and UX is what I remember being accustomed to during my time with windows. To be fair, it was also vista...
  - ric2b 7y ago
    Windows 7 was the peak. Stable, simple to use, performant. Of course it didn't have all the features that were introduced since, but it also didn't have as bad a UX as the more recent versions.
- jjoonathan 7y ago
  Recent Windows login issues I've had to deal with: * Non-consensual insertion of Windows Update latency into my schedule. Often I don't mind. Sometimes, though, I really, really do. * Said updates failing but giving no indication of failure other than taking infinitely long. * Keyboard layout sometimes gets swapped back to QWERTY with no visual indication. This interacts especially poorly with stringent Active Directory 3-try-lockout policies. * Network hiccups + active directory (or something) can cause login to spin indefinitely, requiring a restart. * Login screen background occasionally changes to a random picture from my computer. Usually a wildly upscaled application resource. I haven't entirely ruled out my own clumsiness as a contributing factor, but I've also seen this in the wild, so it's at least a UX issue somewhere. None of this is as bad, in a theoretical sense, as Apple's no-password fiasco, but it has resulted in a far larger footprint on my day-to-day activity.
xemoka 7y ago
Since Mojave, waking my 2012 rMPB results in a flash of desktop and content before showing the lock screen. This sounds similar, if not a continued degradation.
- saagarjha 7y ago
  This has been a thing for longer than that.
amanzi 7y ago
I've never seen a bug like that on Windows. Honestly, it feels like a lot of Mac users live in a bubble where Windows is a buggy pile of crap. Meanwhile most Windows users around the world are getting on with life on a stable OS with a great choice of hardware. While nothing's perfect, Windows is in a really good place at the moment.
- CrazyStat 7y ago
  You must not have ever used Windows 98.
  - evgenyp 7y ago
    It was released 21 years ago and its extended support ended 13 years ago
- Faark 7y ago
  Except that I can not open "Windows Search settings", since it crashes after loading a few seconds. And all the other shit. It might not be as bad as this Mac update, I don't feel confident doing a comparison. But certainly take issue with "Windows is in a really good place at the moment"
  - banachtarski 7y ago
    Not OP but there will always be counterexamples for any software with a sufficient number of users. I've never experienced the bug you're referring to.
- ricardobeat 7y ago
  My brand new PC running Windows 10 will simply not wake up from sleep, requiring a hard restart. A google search turns up thousands of similar complaints (and no solution).
  - MetallicCloud 7y ago
    I had the same issue. A bios update was what fixed it for me.
jeron 7y ago
report to Apple and get the bug bounty
pjc50 7y ago
The huge spam of confirmation popups reminds me of the "debacle" of Windows Vista introducing UAC. It's kind of inexcusable that, a decade later, Apple did exactly the same UI fiasco.

temac 7y ago

Despite having a lower quality than before since a few years, Windows has login and locking features that actually work (and I don't even really remember of bugs in there, like ever), so no, from what you describe it does not feel like Windows at all, it feels like some completely broken crap.

extrapickles 7y ago
There were some good bugs in the login part of windows 2000/XP. Most of the ones I know of involve opening a browser while still on the login screen (my favorite was in the help for the screen reader), which is running as the System user that has complete control over the system.
- Lutzb 7y ago
  IRC this was only possible on windows 95 and maybe 98.
  - jl6 7y ago
    You could do this on XP too.
  - extrapickles 7y ago
    They fixed most of them somewhere around XP SP2 or SP3, where they pretty much disabled help functionality on everything on the lock screen. When Cortana was introduced, they had some issues of being able to launch the browser while the machine was still locked (though as the user that the computer was locked by). You couldn't do much as the previous bugs as the lock screen still covered everything.
als0 7y ago
While on the subject, on Linux I've also noticed that Xscreensaver (or GNOME screensaver, can't remember which) sometimes goes straight into the desktop after wakeup for a few seconds before the lock screen prompt actually appears. You can even run programs. Really bizarre and feels like this issue has been present for a while now. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me?
- tedunangst 7y ago
  X locking is notoriously difficult.
  - dddddaviddddd 7y ago
    I run xlock on suspend rather than on resume, seems more reliable. I'm any case, locking is trivial to bypass by pressing Control-C a few times on resume to kill xorg, hence why I also start X with "startx; exit" so that this drops to the login prompt instead of the shell.
    - Liskni_si 7y ago
      I think this still isn't secure. Try "sleep 5; exit" and press C-Z. You won't be logged out. You probably want to use "exec startx" instead.
      - dddddaviddddd 7y ago
        Thank you, I took a look at my shell man page and this is very helpful.
  - als0 7y ago
    I'm interested to understand why. Is it because of the design of Xorg?
    - 13rac1 7y ago
      Yes, it's one of the reasons Wayland was created. Screensavers didn't exist when X was designed. https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTI5MQ https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OTI5MQ > Right now with screensavers under X it's basically capturing the input and continually redrawing over the display. > With Wayland, Kristian plans for the lock-screen to be part of the Wayland compositor. In having the compositor handle the screensaver role, it can ensure that no window can appear atop the screensaver surface, it can properly detect idling and grabs already, and has complete control over the screen. Unlike the X design, there wouldn't even need to be a screensaver "window" that's on top but the compositor could just keep painting a black screen. For those interested in a "fancy screensaver", a plug-in could be used or an out-of-process Wayland client for drawing whatever you desire.
navidkhn1 7y ago
Wouldn't know about the windows lock screen particularly, and I haven't been a windows user since Vista, but such low quality software and UX is what I remember being accustomed to during my time with windows. To be fair, it was also vista...
- ric2b 7y ago
  Windows 7 was the peak. Stable, simple to use, performant. Of course it didn't have all the features that were introduced since, but it also didn't have as bad a UX as the more recent versions.
jjoonathan 7y ago
Recent Windows login issues I've had to deal with: * Non-consensual insertion of Windows Update latency into my schedule. Often I don't mind. Sometimes, though, I really, really do. * Said updates failing but giving no indication of failure other than taking infinitely long. * Keyboard layout sometimes gets swapped back to QWERTY with no visual indication. This interacts especially poorly with stringent Active Directory 3-try-lockout policies. * Network hiccups + active directory (or something) can cause login to spin indefinitely, requiring a restart. * Login screen background occasionally changes to a random picture from my computer. Usually a wildly upscaled application resource. I haven't entirely ruled out my own clumsiness as a contributing factor, but I've also seen this in the wild, so it's at least a UX issue somewhere. None of this is as bad, in a theoretical sense, as Apple's no-password fiasco, but it has resulted in a far larger footprint on my day-to-day activity.

xemoka 7y ago

Since Mojave, waking my 2012 rMPB results in a flash of desktop and content before showing the lock screen. This sounds similar, if not a continued degradation.

saagarjha 7y ago
This has been a thing for longer than that.

amanzi 7y ago

I've never seen a bug like that on Windows. Honestly, it feels like a lot of Mac users live in a bubble where Windows is a buggy pile of crap. Meanwhile most Windows users around the world are getting on with life on a stable OS with a great choice of hardware. While nothing's perfect, Windows is in a really good place at the moment.

CrazyStat 7y ago
You must not have ever used Windows 98.
- evgenyp 7y ago
  It was released 21 years ago and its extended support ended 13 years ago
Faark 7y ago
Except that I can not open "Windows Search settings", since it crashes after loading a few seconds. And all the other shit. It might not be as bad as this Mac update, I don't feel confident doing a comparison. But certainly take issue with "Windows is in a really good place at the moment"
- banachtarski 7y ago
  Not OP but there will always be counterexamples for any software with a sufficient number of users. I've never experienced the bug you're referring to.
ricardobeat 7y ago
My brand new PC running Windows 10 will simply not wake up from sleep, requiring a hard restart. A google search turns up thousands of similar complaints (and no solution).
- MetallicCloud 7y ago
  I had the same issue. A bios update was what fixed it for me.

jeron 7y ago

report to Apple and get the bug bounty

pjc50 7y ago

The huge spam of confirmation popups reminds me of the "debacle" of Windows Vista introducing UAC. It's kind of inexcusable that, a decade later, Apple did exactly the same UI fiasco.