Copy to clipboard not same as password

[major4579]

I'm using Mozilla 1.7.5 and PasswordMaker 0.8.3 on W2K-SP4 and I cannot get it to work correctly.

I used my Yahoo.com mail account, went to change the password, entered my old password and using Alt` (which I have set to fill in only the blank fields) let PasswordMaker (PWM) fill in the new password field(s), at the very same time I went into PWM and clicked on 'Copy Generated Password to Clipboard' which I pasted into Notepad.

Now when I go to login at Yahoo, PWM fills the password field correctly when I press Alt`. But if I copy and paste the password from Notepad, Yahoo says it is the wrong password.


I have done the opposite too. Went to change Yahoo's password and used 'Copy Generated..' and Paste to enter the new password. When I try to logon and have PWM autofill the password with Alt` - yahoo claims an invalid password. If I paste the password in, Yahoo is happy.

BTW, in both cases the 'Using URL' in PWM is correctly showing "yahoo.com". This behaviour was repeated at a totally different website that I tried. I've come to the conclusion that the password that PWM puts into the password field is NOT the same password that is copied to the clipboard.

Unfortunately this is no good, as I need to know what the passwords are. The concept of PWM is great but there has to be some way of backing up the passwords in plain text.

Thanks,
John

[LkonKbd]

I'm using Mozilla 1.7.5 and PasswordMaker 0.8.3 on W2K-SP4 and I cannot get it to work correctly.

I used my Yahoo.com mail account, went to change the password, entered my old password and using Alt` (which I have set to fill in only the blank fields) let PasswordMaker (PWM) fill in the new password field(s), at the very same time I went into PWM and clicked on 'Copy Generated Password to Clipboard' which I pasted into Notepad.

Now when I go to login at Yahoo, PWM fills the password field correctly when I press Alt`. But if I copy and paste the password from Notepad, Yahoo says it is the wrong password.


I have done the opposite too. Went to change Yahoo's password and used 'Copy Generated..' and Paste to enter the new password. When I try to logon and have PWM autofill the password with Alt` - yahoo claims an invalid password. If I paste the password in, Yahoo is happy.

BTW, in both cases the 'Using URL' in PWM is correctly showing "yahoo.com". This behaviour was repeated at a totally different website that I tried. I've come to the conclusion that the password that PWM puts into the password field is NOT the same password that is copied to the clipboard.

Unfortunately this is no good, as I need to know what the passwords are. The concept of PWM is great but there has to be some way of backing up the passwords in plain text.

Thanks,
John

major4579,

My system is Win98SE v4.10.2222A/w Mozilla FF v1.0.6.

As I was informed of when first starting to use PasswordMaker, enter the 'Advanced Options' and click on the tab for 'Global Settings' then uncheck the box for 'Mask Generated Password' so it will show just below the box for 'Using URL' then highlight that password with your mouse by clicking and dragging over the password then 'Ctrl+C'.  Then you can paste that into your notepad or whatever text editor you are using.  Leaving that box unchecked will give you this ability until you have gaineed confidence in the software as well as feeling more secure.

Good luck,

[LkonKbd]

Eric,

Excuse me for jumping in here just could not pass-up this chance to pass on what you had taught me.

Thank you for this update as well.  Maybe a mailing list of users, that are interested, that could receive a notice when an update is available.  Not meaning I will not check-in here once in a while, but; if we get busy on other thingys for a short at least we would know when you have updated.

Also I have posted a review of what I think of PasswordMaker on Castle Cops Forum and review page so maybe there will more here to ask you questions and maybe come up with more ideas for you.

I cannot keep from removing the 'doubt' as my signature warns,

[Tyrantmizar]

Funny.  I just posted this bug last night: here.

If you want to view your passwords in plain text, might I suggest this bookmarklet?  It allows you to view what has been entered into a password field after it is entered.

[major4579]

Funny.  I just posted this bug last night: here.

If you want to view your passwords in plain text, might I suggest this bookmarklet?  It allows you to view what has been entered into a password field after it is entered.

Thanks,

I will try the bookmarklet and at least I know I'm not doing something wrong. Eric responded to your bug report - so I'll just wait for the bug fix.

Thanks everyone for a fast responce. The program looks very interesting. I don't know if any of you listen to the Security Now podcasts but Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson were discussing the best approach to password management and your program fits it to a 'T'.

Podcasts are available at www.twit.tv and www.grc.com (I've no connection to either).

Thanks again,
John

[Eric H. Jung]

Hi John,
The bugfix is coming today. I actually fixed it yesterday but wanted to slip in a few new features before the release...

Here's hoping you can refer Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson to PasswordMaker :)

-Eric

[Eric H. Jung]

Fixed in version 0.8.4.

LkonKbd,

Maybe a mailing list of users, that are interested, that could receive a notice when an update is available. Not meaning I will not check-in here once in a while, but; if we get busy on other thingys for a short at least we would know when you have updated.

There's an RSS newsfeed which is updated regularly. It's available here. If you don't like RSS newsfeeds, then you can also check the web version of it here.

Hope that helps,
Eric

[major4579]

Hi John,
The bugfix is coming today. I actually fixed it yesterday but wanted to slip in a few new features before the release...

Here's hoping you can refer Leo Laporte and Steve Gibson to PasswordMaker :)

-Eric

Eric,

Thanks, I downloaded the new version (0.8.4) and it works as advertised. I also like the reveal webpage password option.

I figured out how to handle multiple logon accounts for the same URL (for instance multiple email accounts on yahoo.com) - works very well.

I will post this in the appropriate section too - I often open Mozilla Tabs in the background, when it's a site like yahoo.com, the PWM login option shows up but the yahoo window is not in the front - on the other I'm not really sure how I'd want it to work: (a) automatically make the yahoo.com window the top tab or (B) wait until I manually move to the yahoo tab.

Finally, I'm not clear on the difference between:

In Global Settings: Enable auto-complete for password fields in webpages

and

In Account/Defaults/Settings: Auto-populate username & password fields

Finally, I definitely will post on Leo and Steve's blogs about your program.

Thanks,
John

[Eric H. Jung]

Finally, I'm not clear on the difference between:

In Global Settings: Enable auto-complete for password fields in webpages

and

In Account/Defaults/Settings: Auto-populate username & password fields

Yeah, that's thoroughly confusing. The former was just added in 0.8.4, so it's not even in the Help Manual yet. It is an implementation of this request. Ever fill out a web page and see the browser offer suggestions what to write in an input box? That's "auto-complete". Some websites disable auto-complete on their login forms because they think it's more secure if the browser doesn't save that information. This options allows you to turn auto-complete back on for anything you like. I need to re-phrase it so if you have suggestions, please let me know.

"Auto-populate username & password", on the other hand, is the ability for PasswordMaker to prefill input boxes for you when a page loads. Example: say you have this checked for an account you've created (not Default Settings...I'll get to that in a moment) where url matches "yahoo.com". You then navigate to mail.yahoo.com. PasswordMaker automagically fills in the "Username:" and "Password:" fields for you (based on what you've entered for that Account). All you gotta do is click submit!

If you click "Auto-populate username & password" in Account/Defaults/Settings, then PasswordMaker uses whatever if it the default settings to automatically fill username and password fields on every page loaded EXCEPT those which match custom accounts you've defined (i.e., "default overrides"). If more than one custom account matches the current URL, you're prompted for which to use.

Hope this helps. Please give me any advice you might have on clarifying the wording so other users don't get confused.

Finally, I definitely will post on Leo and Steve's blogs about your program.

Thanks!

-Eric

[Guest]

Eric,

Your explanation is great. Not sure if it can be done in a short prompt, but maybe in the tool tip.

Maybe something like "Enable Browser's built-in auto-complete" but that's still not clear as users may already think they have auto-complete turned on. So now we have "Re-enable Browser's built-in auto-complete if disabled by webite".

In any case I have to admit that I have it turned off so the "auto-complete" didn't ring a bell.

Thanks,
John

P.S. am posting screen display bug to "Bugs" forum.