When a website requests access by creating an account and when the password was already stored on the browser, this is covered with asterisks or dots, for security reasons and also to prevent them from being displayed to people around us. Unfortunately, memorizing passwords in browsers is by no means the safest practice, because even if passwords are covered with dots, they can be easily revealed with a trivial, simple and affordable trick.
The well-known trick cannot even be called a "hack" as these passwords are only covered by browsers graphically
In case of forgotten password or whenever you want this password to be displayed in clear text and without asterisks, the best possible and simplest way is to use a bookmarklet that works on Internet Explorer, Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera e Safari without installing anything and in complete safety.
The Bookmarklet works like this: create a new bookmark with any site, even this page, and put it on the bookmarks bar in view.
To see the favorites bar in any browser, just press the buttons together CTRL-Maiusc-B.
Right-click on the added favorite and then click on Edit by changing the following fields:
Name: Show Password
URL: the following code as written, to be copied and pasted
javascript:(function()%7Bvar%20IN,F;IN=document.getElementsByTagName('input');for(var%20i=0;i<IN.length;i++)%7BF=IN%5Bi%5D;if(F.type.toLowerCase()=='password')%7Btry%7BF.type='text'%7Dcatch(r)%7Bvar%20n,Fa;n=document.createElement('input');Fa=F.attributes;for(var%20ii=0;ii<Fa.length;ii++)%7Bvar%20k,knn,knv;k=Fa%5Bii%5D;knn=k.nodeName;knv=k.nodeValue;if(knn.toLowerCase()!='type')%7Bif(knn!='height'&&knn!='width'&!!knv)n%5Bknn%5D=knv%7D%7D;F.parentNode.replaceChild(n,F)%7D%7D%7D%7D)()A questo punto, in ogni sito in cui appaiono pallini o asterischi nel campo password, basta premere il tasto Mostra Password sulla barra dei preferiti per vederla in chiaro visibile e leggibile.
Another way, even easier, to find out the passwords behind the asterisks or the dots is using Google Chrome browser through some extensions.
- ShowPassword shows passwords in four different and optional ways: hover, double click on the password field, click on the password field and press the Ctrl key.
- Password Revealer is simpler and shows passwords covered by asterisks only by hovering the mouse over them.
With Firefox these extensions work very similarly:
- Show Password
ALSO READ: Our passwords saved in Chrome are visible from every other PC
Yet another way, ideal when you are on a computer that is not ours and without installing anything, not even a bookmarklet, is to analyze the code of the page.
On both Chrome and Firefox, right-click on the password field already filled with asterisks and choose "Scan element" or "Inspect element".
Below, in the code, a highlighted line should appear that reads:
<input type="password" ....
Double click on the word type, change the word password to the word text and press Enter.
Magically, the hidden password will be discovered.
You can find out find out all the passwords behind asterisks which are saved or written in the programs running on the computer even with the portable program Nirsoft Bullet PassView, a password recovery tool that reveals the passwords stored behind the dots in the password text boxes of the Windows operating system and in Internet Explorer.
For all browsers you can use WebBrowser Passview, per vedere login e password su Firefox, Chrome e Internet Explorer.
I want to clarify that this trick it does not work for Windows logon passwords, it only works with web pages (To recover the Windows login password, read the linked article).
The recommendation never to activate the "remember password" when browsing the internet from a shared computer.
To find the password of wifi networks and installed programs, there are some free software that have been listed in the chapter Network password recovery and program keys.
Another program is Nirsoft Web browser PassView.
We close the article with the safety recommendation which is the natural consequence of the trick of the stored passwords, which as seen are easily visible from every browser.
If we are not using our own PC, which only we use, then never store passwords on browsers.
In case you can always use a password management program like Lastpass or Keepass.
