Nov 5

Ubuntu 10.10 Thunderbird 3.1.6 LastPass addon disables password manager

Category: Linux,Ubuntu

In my quest to find a good password solution, I tried LastPass. This was a very intrusive password manager on both Firefox and Thunderbird. I promptly removed it after about a day of use. However, removal of the addon left traces of itself throughout my settings. It completely disabled Thunderbird’s integrated password manager. I was lucky enough to find an article at mozillaZine with details on how to re-enable this feature.

Here are the details from their site:

No checkbox to remember passwords

It can happen that you will find no checkbox in Thunderbird to remember passwords. To change this, you will need to edit the prefs.js file, located in the Thunderbird profile folder.

1. Close Thunderbird and open the prefs.js file in Notepad or another editor (make a backup copy of prefs.js first, as a precaution).
2. Find the following line: user_pref(“signon.rememberSignons”, false);
3. Change the value from false to true.
4. Close the Notepad or editor window and save changes.
5. On the next startup of Thunderbird you should find the checkbox for remembering the password in the password manager.

Instead of editing prefs.js, you can change the same setting via about:config.

While editing prefs.js, I found lots of settings that LastPass left behind. Also, in Firefox “about:config” shows the same situation. All in all, LastPass was a horrible solution. I changed to using FF and Thunderbirds built in password manager with a master password.

1 comment

1 Comment so far

  1. Aerion October 27th, 2011 3:44 am

    If you’ve think that switching back to Firefox and Thunderbird’s in-built password manager, and relying on their master password, provides you with security, think again…

    Just try installing Laspass again and let it scan your system for any insecurely stored password, and you’ll see that it retrieves *all* your Firefox and Thunderbird passwords (and the same applies to Chrome/Chromium). If Lastpass can access them, so can any malware on your computer!

    I don’t quite see how you thought Lastpass was intrusive, as it is no more or less intrusive than Mozilla’s password managers. It prompts you for the master password, after which it simply prompts you to save any new site, much like the Mozilla password managers, except with more options.
    Lastpass allows you to choose your own balance between intrusiveness and security. Obviously, the more secure

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