Categories: TechTutorials

What’s behind the asterisks? So you can see the passwords

You may want to enter a web page where you do not remember the password or you simply want to know a password that is stored on that computer but is shown, in the corresponding field, with asterisks. There are ways to view hidden passwords behind the asterisks on the login page, whatever your purpose or what you need. We explain how to do it or how to check the passwords saved on a computer so that you can use them wherever you want.

The safest thing we can do to protect our accounts and profiles on social networks is to use different, long and complex passwords. This means that we do not always remember which is which. As we will see below, it is easy see the passwords saved behind the asterisks when you log in and that is why it is essential and essential that you do not leave them stored on computers where someone can have access and not only you, since anyone could take that computer or laptop and access your passwords.

Show password

Many web pages allow you tap on “show password” (or “show password” if the website is in English, of course) when the asterisks appear and you can automatically see what each * is translated into and what that set of *** means, in letters, when logging in . But it depends on the web page because not all of them have this button to show password so that we know what the password is. In those cases, there are ways to see the passwords hidden behind the asterisks in the browser and we go through them.

To inspect

We do not have to do anything other than go to the web page that we want where the asterisks are in the password field. To do this, we just have to place the cursor in the password field where the asterisks are displayed and click the right mouse button. Next, we choose the Inspect option from the contextual menu and this it will open the debugging or developer view of the browser that we are using at that moment.

There we will be able to see the source code of the web page in execution with the code that corresponds to the field where the password is shown with asterisks. Although we do not have any knowledge of HTML, we simply have to locate on that line where it says input type = »password» and replace the word password with text. In this way, the password field will automatically become a text type field and yese will stop hiding the password behind the famous asterisks being able to see it without any problem.

Using this option helps us if we want to know our password for a service to log into another device, for example, or to write it down and remember it for another time. You should not worry about the “lack of security” because the next time we enter that page, the password will be displayed as usual, under asterisks, and no one will be able to see it since the source code of the page is not modified and once the page the password field is shown again with asterisks as always, the text does not appear as you just checked.

Check passwords in the browser

If you want to check a password that is with “asterisks” in the browser it is because it is saved in

it so you can go to the settings and check it from here. It is something that we can always do from any browser. Keep in mind that if you have found a computer or if it is your own, the information may be saved in the browser’s own settings. Google Chrome and other browsers they ask us if we want to save a password when we type it. In case you have done it, you can see it through this section if you don’t want to do it one by one by following the “Inspect” trick.

In Google Chrome

Open Google Chrome
Tap on the three dots in the upper right corner
Open the browser settings or settings
In the menu on the left, choose “Autocomplete”
Opens the “Passwords” section

Here you will see a complete list of all the websites with saved passwords and with username and password. Passwords or keys, as you can see, will appear with dots instead of being displayed. But enough that choose the one you want to check and touch on the eye next to it. The password used for that web page will automatically appear.

You must bear in mind that the password you saved at that time will appear but you may have changed password later and the one that is registered no longer works. In that case, you can delete it if you want. Another option that allows us is to copy or delete. Tap on the three dots next to the eye icon and a menu will appear where you can “Copy password” (to use it or to take it to a manager) or you can change or remove. If you do not want it to appear in this list, touch on “Remove” and thus you will improve security in that profile, store, social network …

In Mozilla Firefox

Also in Mozilla Firefox we can see how those passwords are after the asterisks if we go to the password manager of the browser itself. If asterisks appear when filling in a form, it is because you have previously saved them. You or the person who owns the password or the computer you are using.

The steps are very similar to if you are using Google Chrome:

Open the Firefox browser
Tap on the three lines in the upper right corner
Open the configuration or settings menu of the computer
Go to Logins and Passwords
Firefox Lockwise will open in a new tab

Once here, Firefox Lockwise will open where you will see the username or username of the web page you want to consult and, at the bottom, the password. You can tap on the eye next to the password dots to see what it is. You can copy it, edit it or delete it if you don’t want it to continue saved.

If you don’t want this to happen and nobody see what’s behind the asterisks, we can remove the password manager from Firefox: