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Firefox Passwords + Gmail
Black Ice
Charlotte, NCRegistered User regular
Charlotte, NCRegistered User regular
After a "Privacy Invasion" for lack of a better term, I am trying to put passwords on my Facebook and my Gmail. I have the Facebook situation down pat - I have to enter both my username and password to log in.
However, the Gmail thing is a bit harder to deal with. I use iGoogle/the customized homepage that Google has and check my Gmail frequently. I have the Gmail Widget that tells me if I have any unread messages and links to my Gmail. I'd like to keep that widget operating and have it simply ask for my password when I click on it to actually check my e-mail, and I'd also like the rest of iGoogle to work without asking for a password, but it seems that if I remove my Gmail password, all of it goes. Does this sound right? If not, what am I doing wrong?
However, the Gmail thing is a bit harder to deal with. I use iGoogle/the customized homepage that Google has and check my Gmail frequently. I have the Gmail Widget that tells me if I have any unread messages and links to my Gmail. I'd like to keep that widget operating and have it simply ask for my password when I click on it to actually check my e-mail, and I'd also like the rest of iGoogle to work without asking for a password, but it seems that if I remove my Gmail password, all of it goes. Does this sound right? If not, what am I doing wrong?
Black Ice on
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So as long as things aren't set to skip the login screen altogether, they will be safe. Basically you just need to enter one password instead of a bunch of usernames/passwords.
I used one for my flash drive version of firefox, because I thought that it would be bad news if I ever lost the flash drive and had all the passwords saved, but didn't want to do the whole login thing. It worked really well, and when I actually did lose the flash drive, I didn't worry because I knew all my info was safe.
Basically, don't set things to auto-login, but save all of your passwords so that it automatically enters them on the login screen of each respective website. Then enable the master password.
Edit: It only asks for the Master Password when I haven't saved my username and password. In other words, in addition to entering my username and password, I also have to enter the Master Password.
Is there a way for it to just ask for the Master Password before it lets me use the website, or perhaps a way to trigger a password for when Firefox starts up? I have so many different usernames and passwords because I have so many websites that I can't remember them all, and it's cumbersome to be entering the usernames and passwords to so many websites when I only want this feature for Facebook and Gmail.
Firefox will ask you if you want it to remember a password for a specific site, say GMail. If you don't have a Master Password, every time you visit GMail, Firefox will auto-fill your password. Otherwise, you'll have to enter your Master Password first, before it auto-fills.
GMail will, however, also ask you if you want it to remember you. If you say yes to this, then GMail won't even ask you your password when you access it, since it has set a cookie on your browser identifying you.
So what you want, if you want to use Master Passwords, is to tell GMail not to remember your password, but tell Firefox to do so. And similarly for all other sites. BUT that will not actually resolve your initial problem, with the widget. The only way the widget can tell if you have unread mail is if you've -already logged in- to GMail. That is, for the widget to work, you or Firefox must have already input your password to GMail. If you want to be alerted when you get an email, you must be logged into GMail, which means your password must have already be entered. If that's an issue, then really the best I can suggest is to set a password on screensaver and lock your computer when you leave it. (Windows Key + L on Windows XP)
(Caveat: I don't actually use the widget or iGoogle, so they might surprise me...)
But we can probably offer you better advice if you tell us exactly how your privacy was breached and whose dirty fingers you're trying to keep off your email.
Okay, I just spent 10-20 minutes working with it and I've got the Gmail situation worked out. It's working just as you said it should. The Master Password still doesn't ask for anything at the Facebook page, however. I still have to enter my Username and Password but it would be nice to have an additional password at the Facebook login page.