Verification drives me mad!

[Treaclewell]

Does anyone else find it infuriating? They need to text me on my old Nokia phone which is up two flights of stairs, I don't need it when I am at home, I;ve got a landline, and the display is two small for the sodding One Time Password to be read, and the battery is prbably dead anyway. And there's the I am not a robot stuff with acres of American street furniture and crosswalks. I exclude Halifax from this rant. They allow me to choose which method and have voice recognition. But I have spent half the morning at times trying to get in to a bank which has deleted a DD and blames me for missing a payment. I could eliminate this problem by not letting my security software delete cookies at the end of each session, I suppose, but I want to eliminate cookies. Aren't I allowed to? It is not good for my blood pressure. eBay is at it now, and says "choose your method" but only offers that nokia. I shall break into song from Oliver. I shall scream! And never use eBay again.

Number of times a fraudster has attempted fraud = 2. I the card was scanned at a petrol station and used to order a crate of wine which alerted the bank. 2, The card was nicked, circumstances unknown, and a young woman went into the bank to draw cash, and the cashier spotted the mismatch of age, sadly after she left the branch. So all the verification stuff hasn't been useful.
A mobile device is more vulnerable than the laptop - a friend needs to replace his phone this week - fell out of his pocket. Cookies can be used during a session, and then removed, so as not to clutter the hard drive, or pop up with ads repeatedly cos I once looked at some shoes.
I have this strange idea that I want to be in control of what's on my computer, and I resent these companies, for their convenience, wanting to take over.
BTW I do choose the images with only a tiny bit of the bike, or whatever.

Hang on a minute... you're deleting cookies at the end of every session, but are surprised you're constantly being asked to authenticate yourself?
I'm half unsure if your post is a joke or not, but just in case it's serious - that's why.

Without cookies your PC appears to the website as a new device, and new devices need 2FA for a lot of sites (to stop someone half-way around the world being able to log in with your details).
You'd be posting about all your money and details being stolen if it wasn't for 2FA, so in all honesty you either need to stop clearing cookies or just get on with it.

I like the looking for traffic lights and clicking the pictures bit

<gets coat>

Really bad for productivity as then phone next to you and end up on Mumsnet

They did not ask in the past, they did not consult me, and anyway, my computer is off a lot of the time. So stored cookies enable third parties to access my stuff...? I don't trust them, and if the effect is to make it easier for them to get in - why should I? Why can't they ask me how I want to set up access out of a number of options and stick with it. Like Halifax.
My GP's Patient Access had me prove I'm me initially, and sign in with username and password. And then, every time, selected letters from my 'memorable word. I can't understand that extra level. And then they email me to say they've detected access.

Privacy is clearly important to you as you’re deleting cookies. So logically you DO want all this extra protection.

I would stop deleting cookies and let the verification stuff do the job for you. You’re actually making it harder for yourself this way.

I have a parking app for our council car parks. It requests verification for a £1.80 session - either in my banking app or via a text message. If I go for banking app it takes me out of the parking app and somehow loses my session, so when I go back in following authentication I have to start the whole process again as the code sent is now invalid. So the text message route it is, but don't click on the actual message, just expand the notification, because if you open the text message properly, it also takes you out of the parking app and you have to start again. This may be a particular 'feature' of JustPark but it's fucking infuriating when you're trying to pay.

And the irony of having to be verified for £1.80 whereas I've been able to spend £££ on a new sofa without any verification requests - presumably that's just down to cookies?

I can honestly understand why people are going back to cash.

I think some of you belong to a different age than mine. There was a time when apps were called programs, and cookies were not viewed favourably, so McAfee and Norton and Kaspersky made a point of cleaning them up, and habits get ingrained. And browsers still offer to wipe them at the end of a session, so it wasn't that long ago. There is now also an assumption that everyone has a smartphone. We have to use mine when MS gets the hump with hotmail and locks my friend out of Outlook. Usually late at night when I am asleep. (And the Nokia users don't offer me that option- they never have said ' how would you like us to contact you?' just merrily assume that I have the most up to date stuff at my fingertips. Instead of upstairs, or in my handbag, or wherever.)
And I guess I have been watching too many stories in which a crooked employee writes a bit of code which gets smuggled into customer's systems and siphons cash off. or sends info off to an enemy, or acts as a bot. There have been actual cases of that sort of fraud I think. And people I know who know about computers are adamant that I shouldn't connect my old stuff, XP, Win7 to the internet. Not that anyone would have any interest in what's on them.