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Security device dialog pops up.

  • 3 replies
  • 4 have this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by FredMcD

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Firefox is my primary browser, I use it on Linux, Windows OSX and Android. I'm writing this on Ubuntu, but really referring to my experience across all platforms.

The dialog box for the "Software Security Device" could be improved in a few ways from my point of view:

1. It seems to pop up randomly. Very often this "randomness" is because (I assume) some tab in the background needs passwords. But from the context that I'm aware of it just looks "random"

2. It pops up. Very hard to work around this one I know, but having a text-accepting dialog pop up when I'm typing text is (notoriously) annoying. To have it pop up, capture some of my text, and then not let me see the text is doubly annoying. Like most people, I'm not a touch typist, so I'm looking at the keyboard, not the screen.

3. It won't let me see the text. This is a general problem with password forms, which is slowly changing as they add "Show password text" checkboxes. The Software Security device needs it more than most because, being the "master password" it is longer and more complicated than all the other ones. 99% of the time there really is no-one who is, nor could be, looking over my shoulder. Having the text masked by default is rational, but not being able to unmask it is security theatre, not security.

4. It pops up when it is already up! This hasn't happened to me very often, merely occasionally, but when it does it is by far the most annoying thing on this list because it just doubles the frustration of everything else. And it should be the easiest thing to check: if the dialog is already up, then do not pop it up again.

5. It is confusing. What "device" are you talking about, and why is Firefox asking about it? I'm used to this one now, but must admit it really confused me when it showed up on my phone, where it must have been referring to the phone, not the browser. Why is there no mention of the "Master password" which was the phrase you used when I was setting it up, and which all the help refers to? Quick test: how many times does Firefox's help/documentation mention the "Master password", and how many times the "Software Security device". (Consider this an upvote for this page: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Self_Explaining_Password_Dialog).

Thank you for taking the time to read this and (hopefully) pass my points on to the relevant Issue Trackers, or upvting them on my behalf. Hopefully it wasn't too ranty.

It's people like you who make my life so much better.

Firefox is my primary browser, I use it on Linux, Windows OSX and Android. I'm writing this on Ubuntu, but really referring to my experience across all platforms. The dialog box for the "Software Security Device" could be improved in a few ways from my point of view: 1. It seems to pop up randomly. Very often this "randomness" is because (I assume) some tab in the background needs passwords. But from the context that I'm aware of it just looks "random" 2. It pops up. Very hard to work around this one I know, but having a text-accepting dialog pop up when I'm typing text is (notoriously) annoying. To have it pop up, capture some of my text, and then not let me see the text is doubly annoying. Like most people, I'm not a touch typist, so I'm looking at the keyboard, not the screen. 3. It won't let me see the text. This is a general problem with password forms, which is slowly changing as they add "Show password text" checkboxes. The Software Security device needs it more than most because, being the "master password" it is longer and more complicated than all the other ones. 99% of the time there really is no-one who is, nor could be, looking over my shoulder. Having the text masked by default is rational, but not being able to unmask it is security theatre, not security. 4. It pops up when it is already up! This hasn't happened to me very often, merely occasionally, but when it does it is by far the most annoying thing on this list because it just doubles the frustration of everything else. And it should be the easiest thing to check: if the dialog is already up, then do not pop it up again. 5. It is confusing. What "device" are you talking about, and why is Firefox asking about it? I'm used to this one now, but must admit it really confused me when it showed up on my phone, where it must have been referring to the phone, not the browser. Why is there no mention of the "Master password" which was the phrase you used when I was setting it up, and which all the help refers to? Quick test: how many times does Firefox's help/documentation mention the "Master password", and how many times the "Software Security device". (Consider this an upvote for this page: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Self_Explaining_Password_Dialog). Thank you for taking the time to read this and (hopefully) pass my points on to the relevant Issue Trackers, or upvting them on my behalf. Hopefully it wasn't too ranty. It's people like you who make my life so much better.

All Replies (3)

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Oops, the closing bracket kinda messed up my link, which should be:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Self_Explaining_Password_Dialog

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Just got hit by this one again.

I am not a touch typist. when I boot the machine I can do 20 chars for the company, then 8 for myself (on a hidden password dialog :-) ) and then Firefox wants 31 chars.

If I could find the coder that didn't check that I was looking at the keyboard when he popped up the second Master Password dialog as I was typing in the first, then I could discuss his problems more directly.

In the meantime, back to work, have a nice day, arseballs, alan

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I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.