Internet Explorer 10's Password Reveal

[Nerd Scale: 1.5 out of 5 pocket protectors]

Okay, I have been getting a lot of questions lately from clients wondering what the heck is this little eye icon in their password fields.   Well, in Internet Explorer 10, Microsoft has included this icon to help reveal what a user has typed into a password field.  

Here is what the icon looks like:

 

If you click on the icon and hold your mouse button down, the password you typed in will be revealed:

 

 

 

The password reveal appears to only be enabled right after you have typed in a password.   If you navigate away from password textbox and come back, you will not get the opportunity to reveal the password. 

 

This is what I would consider a minor security risk for company computers.  If you want to enable a group policy to disable this feature, you can do so by following these steps:

 

 

Navigate to this location in Group Policies: Local Computer Policy | Computer Configuration | Administrative Templates | Windows Components | Internet Explorer | Security Features

 

Find the policy that reads "Do not Display the Reveal Password Button" and enable the policy.

 

 

If you do not want to use group policy, you can make a registry entry by following these instructions:

 

 

- Open Notepad.exe

-  Add this to the notepad file:

 

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00       [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main] "DisablePasswordReveal"=dword:00000001

 

- Save the notepad file as DisablePW.reg

- Double click the DisablePw.reg file

 

Remember, changing the registry or modifying a group policy setting can have undesired effects if you make a mistake.  Make sure you call Binkley IT Consulting to help you make these changes if you are not sure how to do make them safely.