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Why do browsers have a 'show password' button?

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mediaguycouk:
I've never really got this and was wondering if anyone could fill me in.

I don't understand why programs have a show password button inside the browser options and it might have to be the reason I remove Chrome.

At home I'm happy but at work I don't feel comfortable with someone walking up to my PC and then listing every username and password I have in the system.

IE just doesn't do it, fine. Firefox allows the passwords to be protected by a master password. You type that password once per session and then to show the passwords, fine. Chrome does neither, you just get to see them all.

Luckily the master password stopped Chrome from just importing them all, nice to see there is some security there in firefox. But I like Chrome and hope that this is just the learning curve of Beta software.

Graham

Paul Keith:
Mostly because it's a convenience for users especially if you mistype a password and am scratching your head why you can't log in.

Most users ignore the master password feature because it can be a headache being an administrator for your own password especially when you're not used to it. Sometimes you just accidentally close your browser and need to retype it. Other times, you just don't need it. It's probably going to be fixed in future versions when there's enough demand for it but I think Google would be better just serving up extensions so you could use the myriad of online password managers out there if you don't use Keepass and other offline password managers.

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