I have stated before that my browser of choice is Google Chrome. In my opinion, it is “currently” the better browser of the main ones. At the end of 2017, W3Counter states that the top browsers used are Chrome, (59%) Safari, (15%) Firefox, (9%) Internet Explorer/Edge (8%) and Opera (4%). Notice the significant gap between the top two contenders.
They all have an account password manager of some sort. These managers are used to keep track of your user account names and their corresponding passwords for websites. This information is required to log in when you visit those sites. They work in different ways and today I will tell you how to set up and use the one in Chrome. If you favor one of the others, Google for information regarding the specific password manager. Basically, you visit a site after the browser has saved your username and password for that site and it will prefill it making it much quicker to get into the site.
It is quite easy to cut them on and off in Chrome. Some people do not want their browser to keep track of their passwords. It could be a problem if they left their computer unattended. Then others could easily access their accounts with the usernames and passwords already filled-in.
First, check and see how Chrome is set for you. Click the three dots (ellipsis) in the upper right-hand corner of the browser. Look at the bottom of the list and click “Settings.” At the top of the Settings window in the “Search settings” box, enter “passwords.” There are several areas here which you can examine; however, be careful about changing anything unless you first understand what you are changing. (Use Google again.)
We are only going to look at one specific area this time: “Manage passwords.” Click the words “Manage passwords” and you will be at the manager for Chrome. Notice at the top right corner, “Search passwords.” Here you can type in a value that you have a password for and it will find that account.
Below that is a simple On/Off selector. Click the button on the right, gray is Off and blue is On. Off stops Chrome from memorizing your usernames and passwords. It is set “On” by default, so if you never realized it they have all been recorded up to this point.
After that, you can allow it to auto sign-in which allows the usernames and passwords for sites to be prefilled for you.
Now for the good stuff. We will say you forgot your Amazon account password. Type “Amazon.com” into the search passwords box at the top right. It will find your Amazon account login info. From left to right it gives you five items. First, website name, the username, password (hidden by asterisks) an eye icon and an ellipsis. The last one, the ellipsis (three vertical dots) does not do much when clicked other than give you the choice to delete the specific account info.
The eye is the important one. Click it. If you use a username and password to set up your computer you will have to enter that password to see the password, sans asterisks. If the correct computer password is not entered the site password will not be revealed. If you do not have a computer login password anyone on your computer can see your passwords.
Delete or check them as you wish since you now know the secrets.
You can see mine below, hopefully, blurred enough to keep you out of my super-secret info. (Yawn…)
