Solved password problem

[pawz7]

hello, a friend goes to help a lady of 90 years old with her computer. She uses it as a lifeline, for online shopping and e-mail as she lives out of town. Recently she found she could not enter her password to access an online store she uses for her groceries. She is not at all computer-savvy, which is where my friend comes in. He tried to put the password in for her (her fingers don't always do what she wants on the keyboard), and he had the same problem as she. He tried it on his own machine and it worked, so he thought it must be some sort of corruption on her machine ( Windows 7 of course), but didn't know what to do to fix it, so asked me. I suggested he goes into the browser ( Chrome), go to the settings and clear the temp folder from there, including passwords. He is going to try that when he goes - but will that do it do you think? She is somewhat distressed because she can't get her shopping ordered, so we want to be able to fix it as soon as we can. Thanks.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I would just open another account and use a new password ! Or you can try to log in and then hit the forgot password button to reset password and then create a new one.

 

[pawz7]

hello linne - think we have spoken before. As I understand it, she puts the right password in but it is not accepted. The little window where it should go has the word 'password' written in it, somewhat blurred and misaligned, sort of superimposed in the space. It should just be blank and white. She has been onto Waitrose, who cannot see the problem from their end. I thought of suggesting she created a fresh account, but I suspect the server will say that e-mail address is already in use. To be clear, as I understand it, the space won't accept the password. The same password is accepted on another machine.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Could also be a browser issue, have her try logging in on another machine or using a different browser like Chrome, Firefox or IE. If that works then clearing the offending browser cache could help. But if other sites remember her name and passwords then that info will need to be entered again......could be a whole new problem....?

 

[pawz7]

Could also be a browser issue, have her try logging in on another machine or using a different browser like Chrome, Firefox or IE. If that works then clearing the offending browser cache could help. But if other sites remember her name and passwords then that info will need to be entered again......could be a whole new problem....?

I think it is a browser issue. She is on Chrome already, and I have told Barry ( the friend) how to clear the temps, cookies and passwords from the browser, and I hope that will fix it. I don't think she does anything else on the machine apart from groceries and e-mail. I have also told him how to access IE and to download Firefox from the Mozilla site. My guess is that, being an old lady, she is going to want everything to stay the same, not have to use a different browser, so my hope is that clearing the browser settings for temp files, cookies and passwords will fix it. Is that what you meant by browser cache? Thanks Linne

ps, will post result when I get feedback.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

I would also download the free Malwarebytes and run it till nothing shows up as well as any anti virus she may have?.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware - Protect, Detect & Remove Malware From Your PC

 

[pawz7]

that is another possible line, but first we try the browser. I think he only visits her once a week, and no way would she know what to do on her own. 'Browser' she said when he passed my thoughts on to her, 'what's a browser? She loves her computer but she ain't ever going to do more than dabble the keys I think..

 

[linnemeyerhere]

All the more reason I would set it up with at least MS Security Essentials and Malwarebytes. Totally understand though as My 95 Y.O. Dad has a great rig I bought him and it's a Solitaire machine now.

 

[pawz7]

she might already have these in place - I don't know. Whoever bought her the Win 7 laptop in the first place might have seen to it, or Barry. I will ask him next time I see him, Solitaire - yes, I expect this lady's is much the same ( play Spider Solitaire meself when listening to music)

 

[A Guy]

If it works in IE, have your friend create a shortcut to the shopping site in IE on her desktop. Name it Shopping. She can then just click that to shop. A Guy

 

[pawz7]

Good idea A Guy, yes, will do that - she will still need to put her password in though, won't she?

 

[UsernameIssues]

You might want to have Barry install TeamViewer so that you and Barry can help her without having to physically be there.

As far as working with a password, type it somewhere where you can see it (perhaps into notepad) and then copy/paste it into the password field.

I know what you mean about the word password already being in that field, but it should go away* when she clicks inside of it.

*hmmm, it does not go away in Chrome until you start typing.

This is what I see using IE10 and IE11:
http://www.waitrose.com/


And pretty much the same thing using Chrome:


If clearing the temp stuff from Chrome does not work, then totally reset IE and try IE again.


edit: for what it is worth, the fields are blank when using IE8 and IE9:

And I was able to sign on to a waitrose account using IE8, IE9, IE10, IE11 and Chrome.

 

[pawz7]

UNI, thank you for your post -most helpful. So 'password' in the box should be there in Chrome. I did not know that - never thought to check in Chrome. She did put her password in, but it was not received, and the 'password' did not disappear from the box as she typed, so I understand. I shall pass your suggestion on to Barry about copy and paste. That could be an answer. The TeamViewer idea I will leave for now as I doubt she could use it without him to help her, which would make it somewhat pointless, and anyway, he goes to give her companionship as much as computer help I believe. he is a good sorta guy. Thankyou for the trouble you have taken. I shall e-mail him now about the copy and paste.

 

[UsernameIssues]

I totally get the companionship component to these computer help visits...
...but here is some info anyway.

Connecting to her computer via TeamViewer can be automatic. Barry can set it up when he is physically there. Then you and Barry can use it without any actions on her part*.

*If you use the free version, when you disconnect from a session, she will probably see a popup box asking her to buy TeamViewer. If you will immediately reconnect to her computer, dismiss the popup box and then quickly disconnect again --- there should not be second popup box.


No one needs to create an account with TeamViewer just to use the free version - but the account is free and you and Barry might want to create one just so you can save her connection info into TeamViewer's list of contacts. That said, if she is the only person that you will be connecting to, you can probably live without having a contact list.

Those at TeamViewer have done a good job protecting the computer from being accessed by hackers. If someone did happen to figure out the TeamViewer ID code, they should not be able to brute force the password because each wrong password tried makes TeamViewer wait longer before it will accept a new try. The wait time grows exponentially.

I have a number of elderly people that send me an e-mail describing their problem, then they leave their computer on overnight so that I can connect to it and work on it while they sleep. Just turn their computer's sound down if they have it cranked up. If you restart the computer, that sound might wake them up :-(

You can restart the remote computer and still reconnect. You can even restart the remote computer into the safe mode with networking and still reconnect. It is best to tell TeamViewer to tell the remote computer to restart (rather than you clicking on the normal Start > Restart buttons). If you let TeamViewer do the restart, then TeamViewer can notify you when the remote computer has completed the restart. TeamViewer will then let you reconnect using a single click on that notification.

I also keep a TeamViewer app on my cell phone. While it does let me remotely control the same set computers in my contact list, doing so is a bit impractical. The cell phone app is best to let you see what the other person is doing while you talk them thru "click here" instructions.

/end sales pitch

TeamViewer is expensive (USD $700+). No need to buy it for this type of use.

 

[pawz7]

UNI (our German Shepherd is called Uni(ty)), thank you for this info. I have used TeamViewer once to remotely help a chap, and have it on my computer in case it is needed. Other than that I have never explored it. Most computer problems that come my way require troubleshooting and hands-on healing. Anyway, very helpful - thank you. I shall copy and paste this to notepad and pass it to Barry if needed.

 

[pawz7]

an update folks. Clearing Chrome data and passwords did not resolve the problem, so next time he goes Barry is going to uninstall-reinstall a fresh clean copy of Chrome. Meanwhile he has got her to use IE for her Waitrose shopping ( but she wants to stay with Chrome if she can), and I have told him about putting a short-cut on the desktop, so hopefully the matter is resolved with a workaround for now. Thank you so much for all your help.