How to Find Forgotten Passwords in Firefox

From the cable company to your favorite clothing store, just about everything you access online requires a username and password. You may visit more than a dozen sites that require you to create and remember your password. While you may choose to recycle passwords to prevent them from being forgotten, the requirements for letters, numbers and characters at certain websites often require you to create unique passwords. Fortunately, Firefox saves your log-in data at most websites. This is a particularly useful feature that not only offers you the convenience of entering sites quickly, but also acts as a repository for your passwords. In the event that you have forgotten your saved password, you can find it easily in Firefox.

How to Find and Recover Forgotten Passwords in Firefox

Open a Firefox browser. Select "Tools," then "Options." In the "Options" window that pops up, select the "Security" tab. Select "Saved Passwords" in the "Passwords" group. This will open a box containing all of the usernames and passwords you have elected to save for websites accessed in Firefox. The passwords may be hidden by default. To view them, click on "Show Passwords." Click "Yes" if prompted to confirm.

Enter the name of the website containing the forgotten password into the search box at the top of the "Saved Passwords" window. Alternatively, you can opt to scroll to the website. The username and forgotten password will be visible. If the website is not listed, this is because that particular site does not allow Firefox to remember the login data.

How to Remove Passwords

If you no longer frequent a site, you may elect to remove the login data stored in Firefox's saved passwords list. To do so, click on the website and select "Remove." Then click "Close," then "OK" in the "Options" window, for the changes to take effect.

How to Secure Passwords

While having quick access to your saved forgotten passwords is a major convenience, Firefox's saved passwords list also poses a potential security risk, particularly if you share your computer or own a laptop. To reduce the security risk, you can set a master password, which you will need to enter in order to view your list of passwords. Keep in mind, however, that forgetting your master password will be significantly worse.

Transferring Passwords to a New Computer in Firefox

If you are considering upgrading your computer, Firefox has a plug-in, the Password Exporter, which allows you to import saved passwords from your old computer to a new one.