How to enable autocomplete when webapage disables it?

[Michael T.]

I have been logging on to a particular website for over five years with no
problems.

But recently they added a feature so that AutoComplete is disabled for both
username and password.

As a software engineer for many years I can appreciate why they do this.
Just like those annoying sites that make you change your password
periodically. But some of us don't want this added protection. We actually
like the convenience of tightrope walking without a net.

This week in the local paper here in San Diego there was an article that
suggested this can be overridden so that my username (even my password) will
once again be in AutoComplete mode. Anyone know the steps?

Michael

 

[PA Bear]

What's the website? Is it a Secure Site (https://)?

 

[Michael T.]

What's the website? Is it a Secure Site (https://)?

Actually it is more than one site. I was attempting to simplify things by
focusing on one site.

All of these require me to type in my username and password. (Note: Unless I
misunderstood, the newspaper article was suggesting when a web designer
disables AutoComplete this disabling can be defeated.)

SAMPLE WEBSITES
------------------------------
A. This website (URL) used to support AutoComplete for user and password
until they recently updated their website. Now it will not AutoComplete the
password.
http://www.sportsinteraction.com/sportsbook/index.cfm

B. This URL has *never* allowed AutoComplete for user or password.
https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/home.do

C. This URL has *always* allowed AutoComplete for user and password. (Note:
You must click the orange "Log In" button first to get to the sign-on page.)
http://www.capitalone.com/

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
---------
Q: I set my web browser to remember my bank user name and password, but it
won't type them in for me. Is something wrong with my browser?

A: No, this is a site-specific thing. The author of a Web site can prevent
visitors' browsers from logging in automatically by adding extra source code
("autocomplete off") to a sign-on page.

When your browser reads these instructions it will ignore any saved
passwords; you'll have to type in that information yourself. THERE ARE WAYS
TO TWEAK BROWSER SETTINGS TO BYPASS THIS RESTRICTION, BUT NONE OF THEM IS
EASY.

 

[Michael T.]

B. This URL has *never* allowed AutoComplete for user or password.
https://www.citicards.com/cards/wv/home.do

FYI, when I use View > Source (inside IE6) I see the following HTML text
string.

<form name="LOGIN" autocomplete="off"

 

[Michael T.]

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE
---------
Q: I set my web browser to remember my bank user name and password, but it
won't type them in for me. Is something wrong with my browser?

A: No, this is a site-specific thing. The author of a Web site can prevent
visitors' browsers from logging in automatically by adding extra source
code ("autocomplete off") to a sign-on page.

When your browser reads these instructions it will ignore any saved
passwords; you'll have to type in that information yourself. THERE ARE
WAYS TO TWEAK BROWSER SETTINGS TO BYPASS THIS RESTRICTION, BUT NONE OF
THEM IS EASY.

I am beginning to think this article is not referring to Internet Explorer.

After extensive research I was able to find a Bookmarklet named "Remember
Passwords" .
http://ostermiller.org/bookmarklets/password.html

This Bookmarklet does in fact achieve what I was looking for.

Unfortunately it only works with Firefox, Netscape and Mozilla - but not IE.

 

[PA Bear]

C. This URL has *always* allowed AutoComplete for user and password.

(Note:
You must click the orange "Log In" button first to get to the sign-on
page.)
http://www.capitalone.com/

Yes, but the log-in page is a Secure Site, and you certainly would NOT want
AutoComplete to work on ANY Secure Site (unless you want a home intruder or
friend to be able to access, e.g., your internet banking pages).