When logging into the site on subsequent visits you may have noticed that many sites have a small check box, usually marked “Save Password”.  Often this box is checked by default.  The effect of saving your User ID and password locally on your computer is that next time you log into that site, Internet Explorer will automatically log you on.  The downside to this is that anyone using your computer can also visit that site and it will log on and provide access to what could be, confidential or sensitive information. 

You can of course opt not to save the User ID and password, in which case you need to enter it every time you access that site.  If you visit many such sites, then it can be difficult to remember different IDs and passwords, unless you use the same ID and password for each one.

You need not normally worry about major bank sites, since under no circumstances would they provide you with an option to save your password, or any other sensitive information locally on your computer.

In some cases, the “Save password” box is checked by default, and it is easy to hit the logon button and not notice that it is checked.  This will save your ID and password when perhaps you would rather not have.

The ID and password information is saved in a number of different places, depending on what version of operating system you are using:

Older versions – Windows ’95, ’98 and ME all keep them in a password list file in the Windows folder.  It has a PWL file extension name i.e. user.pwl, which is unencrypted and therefore accessed easily – not very secure!

Later versions of Windows – 2000 and XP use sophisticated encryption to store the information and it can only be accessed once the user has logged on and uses advanced tools to access the file.

Finally, many web sites use “cookies” to save ID and password information on your computer.  Whilst it is possible to view the list of cookies on your computer, locating the correct one is not straight-forward.

Should you wish to delete or edit the ID and password information saved on your computer, the following are the steps you should take, depending on which operating system you are using:

Windows ’95, ’98 and ME

To remove any saved IDs and passwords from your computer, you can simply just delete the user.pwl file.  However, you will then delete ALL saved information – you may not want this.  Instead, there is a utility (pwedit.exe) that you will either have on the original Windows CD, or can be downloaded from the Microsoft web site (see http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;135315).  This will allow you to edit the password file list and remove any that you no longer want.

Windows XP

With the later versions of Windows, the ID and password information is kept in a much more secure encrypted form, and is not so easily accessible.  You can access it by taking the following steps:

1.        Go to CONTROL PANEL

2.        Select USER ACCOUNTS (this assumes that you have administrative rights to do this….)

3.        Select the account that you wish to modify

4.        Select MANAGE MY NETWORK PASSWORDS

This will bring up a list of any User IDs and passwords that you have saved.  You can then delete any that you do not wish to retain.  NB:  If any that you know have been saved, do not appear in this list, then follow the process described below.

Cookies

If you have tried either of the above, and you are still being logged on to specific web sites, then it is probable that the developers of the site(s) in question have used “cookies” to store your User information.  You can sift through the cookies on your computer and try to delete the correct one, but this can be difficult as you might have hundreds of cookies on your system.  The easiest way is to delete all cookies, but again, this will result in the loss of all your saved IDs and passwords.  However, if you know them all, it should not be a problem to re-enter them on each web site that you visit.  To delete ALL cookies, go to CONTROL PANEL, select INTERNET OPTIONS and hit the DELETE COOKIES button in the centre panel of the dialogue box.  You should no longer be automatically logged on to any of your registered web sites.