Be aware: Internet Explorer 10 has a password Eye. They call it a feature, I say it's a security flaw

March 19, 2013 · 2 min read

I'm glad my work laptop and my other machines are maintained centrally and not going out to get the latest updates on everything.  We have one laptop running Home Premium that is setup to automatically update anything.  It got Internet Explorer 10 last week, and my wife brought it to my attention that the password field has an "Eye" besides it and when you click and hold on it, it shows your password.

After spending all of last night trying to disable that "feature", I gave up.  All the posts I saw said I had to use Local Group Policy Editor, which is not available to laptops running the "Home" versions.  The more I read it, the angrier I get at these people calling it a feature.  How is this supposed to help anything?  If you want to see what password you typed, open a notepad or a text editor and type it in there.  Some people say it's only dangerous if there is people standing behind you.  Really?  What about people who walked away from there laptops?  What about people who save their form data?  Suddenly everyone needs to learn to lock their computer, even if they get up and stretch?  Oh yea, make sure all the tablets you have automatically lock itself after a minute, and tape that to your behind if you go to an airport bathroom.  I have to rant about this one because some of the reasoning I heard about this "feature" is just so idiotic and I'm really having a hard time understanding how this feature is helping any user.

I'm a long time Microsoft user, but for this one, Apple got it right.  I have an iPhone now and the password field let you see the character you just typed in.  If you go back, you don't see the character.  If you want to help a user using a touchscreen keyboard, that's the way to do it.  I don't understand this new idiotic feature.

That said, I found a post on how to disable this without using Local Group Policy Editor; will definitely give this a try tonight.  http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/ieitprocurrentver/thread/fb28ef90-2091-483e-8293-1ec1c6dd0ca6v

[2014-02-20]

Please read my followup opinion here.

This article is part of the GWB Archives. Original Author: Kevin Shyr

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