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Securing Firefox

The Commuter

Friday, May 22, 2009

Giving a complete stranger my bank account PIN # is at the very end of my checklist for today… wait… ah yes, so far down there that I forgot to write it on the page. Not only would this almost “finders keepers” character be disappointed with my near-empty account, but I wouldn’t be so happy with the overdraft fees that would ensue.

I check my e-mail at least three or so times a day, which means I have to give Gmail my password every time. I am a die-hard Mozilla Firefox junkie. When coming across a machine that is enslaved to Microsoft’s trademark web browser Internet Explorer (IE) I take great joy in liberating its brainwashed mind and giving it the perfect gift of Firefox. Thankfully every machine here at LBCC has already been freed of IE’s evil grip. Not without a twist though.

Apparently the latest version of Firefox comes with the “remember password” feature pre-checked, so that annoying petition in a float-down bar keeps asking, “Do you want Firefox to remember this password?” I am not the enlightened Jim Carey, so there is no “Yes Man” for me. It’s NO actually… absolutely not. I actually don’t think it’s such a great idea for the hundreds of other computer users to be able to check my e-mail and see my grades on Blackboard. So, in order to circumvent this annoying attack to yours and my privacy/online security, a 10-second procedure fixes the problem forever. While in Firefox, click on “Tools,” then on “Options…” you will then see five icons in a popup menu, the one with the Padlock is the one you want to go to next, “Security.” Once you arrive there, in the “Passwords” area you will be able to uncheck the default “Remember passwords for sites.” This will now tell Firefox to never again ask for your most important component of your online security (your passwords), and may live thereafter in peace and happiness. Remember that once this is completed on one computer, it is only fixed on that individual machine. But with your help, one by one we free them all.

- Gordon Wilke

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