How to use Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge to remember your passwords

We do our shopping, banking and even host our social gatherings online. If you feel like you’re drowning in logins and passwords, you’re not alone.

Many people feel overwhelmed having to create and remember strong, secure passwords. Tap or click here for five smart rules for creating complex logins to keep your accounts safe.

Fortunately, there’s a solution beyond writing down every password to every account (don’t do that!) or being blessed with a photographic memory. We’re talking about password managers, and you can get all the benefits of one right in your browser.

What is a password manager?

Using weak passwords or variations of the same password isn’t smart, plain and simple. Password managers reduce that risk by generating strong, complex passwords and storing them for you.

Before we get to how your browser can store your passwords, know this: A standalone password manager is your best bet. Instead of remembering each and every password, you only need to remember the master login to your password manager.

Password managers can also create answers to security questions. Just like the passwords generated, the answers to security questions are a series of long, randomly selected letters and characters. For example, the answer to the question “Name Of Your First Pet?” may become something like GrA%77ee6+R.

Password managers can also store credit card information, autofill online forms, and sync between browsers and devices so that you can easily log into any account.

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Using your browser to remember passwords

If you decide not to use a third-party password manager, you can turn to your browser to generate and save your passwords. Now, this will not provide the same level of security and it’s certainly not as convenient to access your accounts if you move between browsers and devices.

There’s also the risk of someone getting their hands on all your logins. If someone gains access to your computer, laptop, phone or tablet, they could potentially use your browser’s password manager to log into your accounts. Tap or click here to see how you can reveal the hidden passwords saved in a browser.

If you do decide to use your browser to remember your passwords, make sure you lock your device with a secure passcode to keep snoops out.

The upside of using a browser as your password manager is that it’s convenient and free. Each browser has a slightly different process for generating and saving passwords. Swipe or scroll down to your preferred browser.

Google Chrome

• Open Chrome on your device.
• When Chrome is open, turn on Sync.
• Choose a website to create an account for and fill in the appropriate fields.
• Click the password text field.
• Click Suggest Strong Password.
• Click Use Password to confirm.
• The password will be automatically saved to Chrome.

Firefox

• Open Firefox, go to a website and start creating a new account.
• Click the password field.
• Press the control key on your keyboard.
• Hold the control key and right-click.
• Choose Use Generated Password from the pop-up.
• Firefox will automatically remember the newly created password.

Safari

1. Open Safari, and go to the website you want to create an account for.
2. Click the password field.
3. Open the drop-down menu on the right side of the password field.
4. Click Suggest New Password.
5. Choose the suggested password by clicking it. Save the password to Safari.

Microsoft Edge

Microsoft Edge does not offer a password generator tool, but you can save your passwords and auto-fill forms with active fields. Edge will automatically save your passwords, so follow these steps to delete saved passwords and prevent saving them in the future.

To use Microsoft Edge to remember passwords and form fields, do the following:

• Open Edge and select Settings from the three-dot menu in the upper right-hand corner.
• Select the password arrow.
• From this screen, you can choose whether to allow Edge to save your passwords by selecting On/Off.

If you’re on a Mac computer, iPad or iPhone, Apple has an additional password manager called Keychain you can use alongside Safari. Tap or click here for our handy guide to set it up.

Now that your passwords are in order, take another step to boost your security. Tap or click here for three must-download browser extensions.

However you choose to save and store your passwords, security should be your top priority. Soon we may be able to do away with passwords for good, but until then, password managers can help reduce risk.