Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Computing/2020 March 28

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Computing desk
< March 27 << Feb | March | Apr >> March 29 >
Welcome to the Wikipedia Computing Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.


March 28[edit]

Opera Web Browser: Saving Bank Password[edit]

I am now trying using Opera as a web browser. When I go to the web page for my on-line banking, it prompts me for my user ID and password. Then when it times out, I have to enter my password again. Is there a way to get it to remember the password? I have gone to the Settings tab and I see Offer to Save Passwords and Auto Sign-In, and I think that I have them set. However, it isn't displaying the bank in the list of web sites for which it has passwords saved, and it obviously doesn't have the password saved. Am I missing something? Robert McClenon (talk) 19:13, 28 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

It's possible that Opera is still respecting the autocomplete=off for login fields unlike most other browsers. Try chrome://flags/#enable-autofill-ignore-autocomplete-off [1]. If the website is doing something questionable like abusing the new password [2] I'm not sure what you can do other than change browser or complain to your bank (baring something complicated like automatically modifying the bank page). BTW I also noticed this claim [3] that if your network is set to 'public', perhaps by accident (it's very easy to miss the popup when you connect to a network for the first time), password saving is disabled. This is only a single forum post but I don't really trust it and frankly it doesn't make much sense to me unless it's some sort if silly security measure against the device being stolen. (It may make sense to not automatically logon to any site still foolish enough not to use TLS for their login.) Nil Einne (talk) 01:31, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know if Opera stores your passwords in the "cloud" or on local storage, but either way, you are playing with fire.
The last password I would want to put in a keystore of unknown, unvetted security is the financial type. Worst case scenario, it would be something I have memorized and I type each time.
Personally, I use an encrypted password database with a password manager app (mine is called KeePass) and I let it do the saving and the typing-in, too. I share the strongly-encrypted database among my devices only, although it is safe for me to place it in the cloud if I wanted to.
I, too, once used browser-based password saving, but I migrated away from it because of poor security and surveillance. KeePass integrates well with the OS on all platforms I use (Windows, Ubuntu, Fedora, Android) and it gives me peace of mind. Also, I use it to generate extremely long, extremely strong passwords that I don't ever have to remember. In a world where we are required to juggle dozens or hundreds of account credentials, it's the only sane solution. Elizium23 (talk) 03:57, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Passwords saved in the web browser can be read by any computer program that runs under your user account and has access to your files (basically, any computer program). It's the same level of security as if you put it in a text file in your My Documents folder, except the virus doesn't even have to know the file name. 89.172.8.37 (talk) 08:43, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The Opera password manager encrypts the passwords before storing them (by default in C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Application Data\Opera Software\Opera Stable\Login Data). I do not know how strong the encryption is, but it is not as if just any program can simply read the passwords off of that file.  --Lambiam 14:58, 29 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
If you use a master password, there is some level of security, although far less than with what I'd trust a banking password. If you don't use a master password, the encryption is obviously just for show. 89.172.106.70 (talk) 10:20, 31 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Got a macbook pro?[edit]

Over at Talk:Favicon a bot said that an image of Favicon images in MacBook Pro control strip is up for deletion for containing a non-free logo. Could someone with a macbook pro make a new image with only free favicons and replace the current image? Thanks! --Guy Macon (talk) 20:48, 28 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]