Internet Explorer 11 Passwords on Your Surface

OK, so your Surface comes with Internet Explorer 11. This is true for both the RT and Pro versions of the tablet. Internet Explorer 11 (IE11) is a pretty good browser, overall, but do you ever wonder why it’s asking you to store passwords?

Or how to turn OFF that annoying message that asks you to store them?

Or how about do you want to view the currently stored passwords? Maybe even delete them?

In this post you will find the following on the topic of Internet Explorer 11 Passwords:

1. Internet Explorer 11 Passwords: Why does IE ask to store passwords?

The Internet today relies heavily on passwords for authentication to many, many, many sites. That’s why it’s vitally important to have a good password manager to keep track of them all, see our post PassPack Password Manager Review.

IE11 is designed to help you sign in to sites faster by auto-detecting login forms. Each time it does so, IE will offer to remember the password. Microsoft says that it will do so on over 90% of login forms on the web – not too shabby.

It then, pre-populates your saved credentials the next time you visit the page, after the page is fully loaded. On your Surface, you may have noticed that the double-tap-to-zoom is disabled on input elements (like passwords), to prevent accidently triggering zoom when initiating autocomplete.

The idea is to make it easier for you to surf the web and sign in faster to all the hundreds of accounts that you may have.

2. Internet Explorer 11 Passwords: How to turn the storing ON or OFF

In IE11, you get the option to turn this password storing ON or OFF. Here is how:

• Open IE11 (metro)
• Swipe from right to activate Charms menu
• Select Options

• Scroll down to about the middle of the list and toggle Offer to save passwords when I log into sites ON or OFF

3. Internet Explorer 11 Passwords: How to delete currently stored passwords

• Open IE 11 (in Metro)
• Select Accounts

•  You will see the listing of all accounts with saved passwords

•  Tap the one you’d like to remove

•  And tap Remove

4. Internet Explorer 11 Passwords: How to view currently stored passwords

This is slightly more complex:

• Go to Desktop
• Open Control Panel
• Click on User Accounts and Family Safety
• Click Credential Manager

• Select Web Credentials
• Click the account you want to see the password for
• Click on Show
• You will have to re-authenticate to verify who you are

• Now you will see the password

Note: you can also remove passwords from here – an alternative to the metro method in step 3

5. Internet Explorer 11 Passwords: Password Roaming

All of your credentials can be “roamed” (or copied) to all of your other Windows 8.1 devices, including a Windows 8.1 Phone. That sure is convenient and Microsoft says that the store apps will never be able to read the credentials stored in IE. Roaming however, can be a double-edge sword because you may not always want to carry your settings from device to device. For example, do you want IE to remember all your passwords even if you’re signing into someone else’s computer? That’s really up to you but I wouldn’t recommend it.

You may also like our posts on How to clear your browser history and Windows 8 Task Manager Part 1.

Joanna