Topic: Win XP Internet Explorer IE6 lost password

[Nemesis]

Does anyone know of a quick way to remove or recover a password of Internet Explorer on IE 6?

One of my friends (not local so I can't go there and help him) put a password on his IE and now he needs it and can't remember what he used. 

[Dash Jones]

What do you mean by put his name on IE?

Did he use autocomplete, and had his name recorded that way...if it isn't retrieving it now, it's probable someone deleted that, and in that case, I believe it's irretrievable without sifting through about a million bits of information (how long would it take him to read a million bits of meaningless jumbled jargon until he found what he thought was his password?)

The other way is if it was on a site with bad security, it might be stored in a cookie via his Internet Explorer Cache.

[Nemesis]

He said that he put a password (not name) on IE and now no one can use it (neither of the 2 login names can access it).  He did it because IE was letting his system get infected all the time and he switched to Seamonkey.  The password was put on because the kids kept using it.  Since he protected it no infections.  Now however he needs to access it because World of Warcraft apparently won't work without it.

I'm only going by his description as I can't get there to see what is happening and I don't use either XP or IE so I don't have any experience with this issue. 

[Dash Jones]

Ask him what protection program he is using...is it Net Nanny?

IE by itself doesn't really have a P/W protection from popups and downloads by itself.  It only has a level of security which at higher settings can ask you if you want to d/l something, or flat out ignore it.

When you password such things, typically you are using another program, as far as I know.

In those other programs, password retrieval then becomes based upon which program he's using.

In that case, there are several options.  It could be saved in the registry under that program (doubtful, but happens occasionally) which protects the computer at a registry level...

Or it could be just one that has it recorded in a save file in located under some name in the actual program folder.

It could also be kept in a hidden folder via the Temporary Internet Files cache, to keep it there, but also keep it from being deleted.

Finally, it could also be kept in the program itself, in which case it's nigh impossible to retrieve (unless it has a retrieve program) unless one can dissect and fish through many lines of code.

My guess is that he has some extra firewall program out there protecting his IE, and that's what he put his password on.

I could be wrong, but I've never seen IE have password protection for d/l or popups integrated in it on it's own W/O an extra program there to aid it.

[Nemesis]

I E-Mailed him an abbreviated form of your information Dash and suggested that uninstalling such a program would remove the password.  He can then of course reinstall if he wants.  He may end up just reinstalling Winodows and hopefully being more careful of passwords in the future.  These 2 cartoons may show is security habbits though.  Cartoon 1  Cartoon 2

Thanks for the information.

[Dash Jones]

Maybe you can help me in return?

I'm looking at installing Mepis Linux on a laptop, but seems that it only works by utilizing the older laptop option for it's screen.  I'm wondering how to find proper drivers for linux, and also about how wine works with linux and installation of wine within a linux OS.

You don't have to answer, but wondering about it.

[Nemesis]

Maybe you can help me in return?

I'm looking at installing Mepis Linux on a laptop, but seems that it only works by utilizing the older laptop option for it's screen.  I'm wondering how to find proper drivers for linux, and also about how wine works with linux and installation of wine within a linux OS.

You don't have to answer, but wondering about it.

Acutally I consider myself to be pretty much of a novice with Linux myself and I've never had trouble with an install like that so I've never had to learn how to fix it.  For me Linux has pretty much just been run the install and periodic updates, it handled all the behind the scenes stuff well enough that I haven't tampered much.

The only Linux install I ever had fail turned out to be BIOS settings that were optimized enough for speed that Windows wouldn't reinstall until I put things back to defaults.

You might try the MEPIS forums.  I'd suggest searching the forums there first before posting in case the solution is in plain site and 2nd have details on your laptop in your first post.  It is a lot harder regardless of the OS to help without knowing the hardware and precise failure information.

For WINE the only use I ever made of it was to use a prepared script to run SETI @ Home before BOINC so its been over a year since I even looked at it.  So again I can't really help there other than to suggest search google for WINE and the programs that you are trying to run.

Sorry I can't be more help.

[Dash Jones]

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Another solution would be to "upgrade" to IE7...it should remove all the password bullsh*t.

[IAF Lyrkiller]

Or uninstall and reinstall IE. It will take everything that was put in.

[Nemesis]

Or uninstall and reinstall IE. It will take everything that was put in.

They restored the ability to uninstall IE?  When did that happen?

[IAF Lyrkiller]

It has always been an option in XP. You Nem, need to read more XP books.

[Nemesis]

It has always been an option in XP. You Nem, need to read more XP books.

Given that the DRM that drove me away from Microsoft is still in XP and is dramatically increased in Vista why would I want to read a book on XP?

Now Microsoft has been saying since Win98 that IE is "Integrated" and can't be removed so what exactly do you (and Microsoft) mean by "remove"? 

If it can be totally removed then Microsoft is back to being in violation of the anti-bundling court order from the 1st DOJ vs Microsoft settlement that the integration avoided.  (Avoiding the law rather than complying is one of the things that I dislike about Microsoft.)