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Technology With Confidence

How do I disable remembered passwords in my browser?

Web browsers aren't necessarily the most secure approach to saving your login passwords. I'll show you how to disable the feature and clear out any previously remembered passwords in IE, Firefox and Chrome.

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Please describe how you disable the “remember password” feature in browsers. And how to clear previously remembered passwords, as well.

That was a comment posted on my article How safe is it to let my browser save my passwords? where I essentially discouraged the use of browser built-in password saving features, in favor of utilities like Lastpass.

Fair enough. Let me show you how in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.

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Disabling remembered passwords in Internet Explorer

In Internet Explorer, password saving is bundled in with the more general “AutoComplete” feature.

Click on the gear icon, or the Tools menu, and select Internet Options, and then click on the Content tab in the resulting dialog box:

Internet Explorer Options, Content Tab

Click on the Settings button in the AutoComplete section:

IE AutoComplete Settings

Make sure that “User names and passwords on forms” is not checked.

To clear any previously remembered passwords click on Delete AutoComplete history…

IE Delete Browsing History dialog

Make sure that “Passwords” is checked and then click on Delete. That’ll return you to the prior settings dialog box where you can click on OK.

IE’s memory of your passwords has been cleared, and it should no longer try to remember more.

Disabling remembered passwords in FireFox

Open the Options dialog in Firefox either by clicking on the hamburger icon or the Tools menu and clicking on Options. Then click on the Security tab:

Firefox Security Options

Make sure that “Remember passwords for sites” is not checked.

To clear any previously remembered passwords click on Saved Passwords…

Firefox Saved Passwords

If you have saved passwords the Remove All button will be enabled. Click it, then click Close and OK to close the options dialog.

Firefox’s memory of your passwords has been cleared, and it should no longer try to remember more.

Disabling remembered passwords in Google Chrome

Open Chrome settings by clicking on its hamburger icon and then on Settings. At the bottom of the settings page click on Show advanced settings…

Chrome Show Advanced Settings link

Scroll down to “Passwords and forms”:

Chrome's offer to save passwords

Make sure that “Offer to save your web passwords” is not checked.

To clear any previously saved passwords click on the Managed saved passwords link.

Chrome Saved Passwords

While you can delete each password one at a time by clicking on the “x” to its right, it’s easiest to clear all by typing CTRL+A to select all of them, and then pressing Delete.

Click Done, and then close the Chrome options tab.

Google Chrome’s memory of your passwords has been cleared, and it should no longer try to remember more.

Remembering elsewhere

So if you’re not going to use your browser to save passwords, and since it’s important to use different, complex passwords everywhere, what’s a person to do?

My strong recommendation is LastPass, or any of several tools like it. Lastpass is designed for security and has several additional security options like timeout and two-factor authentication that browsers simply don’t have. On top of that, it’ll synchronize all of your passwords across all of your machines and devices.

Related Posts

  • Is it safe to let my browser remember passwords? - Letting your browser remember passwords is a convenient feature. However it's important to understand that with that convenience comes risk - often significant risk.
  • I Forgot My Password – Can I Somehow Get My Auto-login-Remembered Password? - There are tools to recover most of your 'remembered' passwords. You can use them if you forgot your 'remembered' password -- and so can anyone with access to your machine.
  • How Safe Is it to Let My Browser Save My Passwords? - Letting your web browser save your passwords for you seems like a helpful convenience, particularly when common advice is to use different passwords everywhere. That convenience does come with risks.
  • What’s a Browser Cache? How Do I Clear It? Why Would I Want to? - "Clear your browser cache" is the first response that tech people often give when you encounter web page problems. We'll look at why that is and how to clear the cache.
Posted: July 3, 2014 in: Passwords
Shortlink: https://askleo.com/15155
TAGS: firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, LastPass, passwords
« Previous post: How Safe Is it to Let My Browser Save My Passwords?
Next post: What’s an “Automatic (Delayed start)” Service? »

About Leo

Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed. After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.

Comments

  1. sirpaul2

    July 8, 2014 at 1:57 pm

    The Firefox (V.29) ‘hamburger icon’ now opens to an ‘Additional tools and options’, help, synch, exit, and customization menu.
    The ‘Tools’ instructions are still valid.

    Reply
  2. Ask

    January 12, 2018 at 1:56 am

    Helo Leo!

    And Opera browser where stays?????????????

    Reply
    • Leo

      January 12, 2018 at 2:28 pm

      Sorry, I don’t understand your question.

      Reply
  3. Dan Silvia

    June 20, 2018 at 2:10 pm

    What about Opera, you left it out.

    Reply
    • Mark Jacobs (Team Leo)

      June 21, 2018 at 5:06 am

      In Opera, click on the Opera icon (big red O) in the upper left corner of the browser window. Click on “Settings” from the pull-down menu. Next click on “Privacy & security” Under the “Passwords” heading, make sure “Offer to save passwords I enter on the web” is unchecked.

      To clear the passwords, type CTRL+SHIFT+DELETE to bring up the “Clear browsing data” dialog box. Make sure the “Passwords” check box is ticked” and click on the “Clear browsing data” button.

      Reply

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