Sometime in the last several months(?) Gmail has a list of all the people who logged in using that computer (or the last X accounts). There is no option to just log in anymore. This seems to be against all the privacy concerns that are common. It won’t compromise your account (much) more as the password is not saved, but it seems weird to use a public computer and find out that chunkylover53 has last used it. There is no option that I can see to just log in once without adding it. You have to take the extra step to remove the account from the list after you are done.
I can only speculate as to why they added this feature, but I’m going to say that Google wanted it to make it easier for users with multiple accounts to sign in so they don’t have to keep entering different user names. It might be ok for a device with a single user, but of course not so good for shared devices.
So naturally, Google has an option to opt out of this feature. All you have to do is uncheck the “Stay signed in” option below the login button. I think the problem is that it’s checked by default. If you want to delete user accounts from appearing automatically, all you have to do is press, “Login with a different account” and you will see a bunch of accounts registered with that device. Just press delete and they won’t show up again. Unless they forget to uncheck the option the next time they sign in.
A URL won’t do you any good - it is specific to your computer…
to the OP I would have two suggestions
a) Clear the cache when you have finished using the computer - that way it will be gone
b) Use the “incognito” function - then your data won’t be saved / logged (actually, using incognito on any public computer is probably a good idea)
For me - I find it rather convenient as I manage about 6 or 7 different google accounts for my business, so it’s rather convenient to “add account”
You are quite right, but it requires you to click “add account” first. Just completely strange.
If I am getting to that point, I will get something to manage my accounts. My questions is not why they don’t give me a good option, but why the default option is the one that is less “acceptable” these days.
An aside: the Firefox extension “Gmail manager” is pretty much dead. Any good replacements? I don’t like the Notifier one. I want multiple account support.
How do I delete usernames off that list? Because I can’t see to do that and I’d like to clear out the misspellings and the one leftover from when a visitor checked her e-mail and in general I’d just like to tidy up.
WITHOUT the special feature, it takes 1 (one) keystroke and a tiny bit of mouse action to login. The browser remembers which users have logged in. If two of the usernames have the same initial letter, then it takes two keystrokes instead of 1.
I am also occasionally presented with inexplicable requests to login or options to “add” or “remove” accounts from Google/Chrome. While I like Google services like Gmail or Youtube, AFAICT, the higher-level “accounts” have no utility to me beyond helping Google associate these service accounts. I don’t particularly cooperate with Google – when forced to log-in to Youtube I use a different identity from any of my Gmail acocunts – but I’m 99% sure that Google already knows how closely these “separate” identities are linked.
There also seems to be a concept of Chrome account distinct from other Google accounts. I learned this when, after meaningless Chrome complaints, I clicked for a while and ended up deleting my only Chrome account … and with it my bookmarks, saved passwords, history, etc. (I did find them in a backup.)
I don’t think anyone here can give you a definitive answer unless they work at Google. Somebody probably thought it was a usability boon. It’s not entirely unreasonable to assume most computers are used by a small handful of the same people, is it?
As for the Google accounts, your Chrome account should be your Gmail account, unless you went through the tedious effort of making a Google account that uses another email provider.
For a while your YouTube and Google Plus accounts were also the same account as your Gmail account, but they changed it after people complained about the integration (they just can’t win, can they?). Now they provide some level of optional modularity so people can have Gmail without a Google+ username, or use YouTube without a fancy channel, etc. It’s a mix of trying to please the privacy freaks without giving up on G+ altogether.
The Google integration actually works really, really well if you fit their use case (don’t mind giving up some privacy in exchange for free services, preferably use an android-based smartphone), etc. For example, it’s nice to book a hotel online, get in my car, and Google Maps knows I recently searched for it and also offers to show me the confirmation because it talks to Gmail and knows what’s up. It works similarly with Google Contacts, Calendar, Drive, etc. The one-login ecosystem is incredibly useful, twice as much if you use Android, and ten times as much if many of your friends also use Google, and so does your school and employer.
Hover over the entry you want to get rid of and push shift-delete.
For me, I don’t use an account manager - I just use the gmail default - and yes - I can be logged into different accounts at the same time, and switch between them conveniently, and it does help me