Autofill needs fulfilled

June 12, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

Q. This is probably easy, but I can’t find it. When I fill in a blank, such as an email login, several programs running under IE remember them. I may or may not tell the system to remember a password (usually not), but often tell it to “remember me on this machine.” Then I type something in and hit return before I realize I’ve misspelled my name or put my login and password on the same line. After that, the error comes up whenever I get to that blank, usually opening as a pull-down. How do I edit my mistakes out of that listing?

A. You’re right: The solution to removing erroneous autofill options is very easy.

Start by double-clicking in the text field so that the drop-down menu appears. Highlight the option that you want to remove by holding your mouse over it — but don’t click on it. Then hit the “delete” key to remove the option from your autofill. This process also works with autofill email addresses in Outlook.

If you have a typo in a password, the process isn’t quite as straightforward as you can’t delete just one saved password using Internet Explorer.

However, you can use a small, free program called IE PassView that allows you to view your login/password pairs and delete them as needed. Download it at www.nirsoft.net/utils/internet—explorer—password .html.

(A head’s up: The developer warns that your antivirus/spyware program may balk at this application, but it has been certified clean by CNET’s Download.com. Download it there, if you prefer, but be sure to click on the “Download Now” button and not on an ad.)

Q. I cannot get Internet Explorer to store any username/password of any bank or credit-card account on my new laptop running Windows 7. It will store other website sign-ins. My other laptop with Vista has no problem storing these logins. The geeks at the store where I bought it can’t figure it out either. Does Windows 7 block these kinds of stored logins, or is there some way to make it work?

A. The first thing to do is make sure you have your autocomplete settings correct, says Brandon Ambrose, a geek in the support group of Atlantic BT, a Raleigh, N.C., Web development company.

Go to “Tools,” “Internet Options” and the “Content” tab. Under “Autocomplete,” click on “Settings,” and make sure the checkboxes for usernames and passwords are selected.

If they are, Ambrose points to one possible issue: If you have the Yahoo Toolbar installed, there is a known bug that can keep IE from storing passwords. You could try removing the toolbar and see whether that fixes the problem, he said. Consider removing other toolbars, too.

But his best recommendation to solve your problem and get some additional benefits is to use a third-party solution. He recommends LastPass for storing all of the passwords for sites you commonly visit and some additional useful features such as auto-login.

Download LastPass for free at www.lastpass.com, or pay $12 a year for a premium version.

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2011, The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.)

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