How safe are passwords stored in Firefox?

I was wondering, I have a lot of passwords saved in Firefox. Passwords to mail account but also Paypal and eBay.

I often acces random Wifi spots in coffeeshops and parks.

What are the chances of hackers getting acces to my password file?
And what are the chances of someone grabbing my passwords when I acces these sites?

Thanks

 

firefox is alot safer to use than internet exsplorer but to be on the safe side delet your passwords and put them in when u log in and dont save them

 

Anyone with a physical access to your machine can get your passwords easily, unless you use a Master Passphrase to encrypt them. There's an option for that in Options. If you go this route, you'll be asked to type a Master Passphrase once every time you start Firefox.

As for hackers intercepting your passwords when you're online, this is different. It primarily depends on whether the connection is SSL-encrypted or not, and has nothing to do with the above. I.e. even if you encrypt your passwords, and try to buy something over an non-secure connection, anyone with a network sniffer can grab your CC number, etc. -- easily.

Hope this helps.

 

That`s why I use my fingerprint reader

 

I don't think anyone would want this. It's highly annoying. Type in the master pw everytime...I thought you just needed that master pw to get into the store pw's in ff.

 

You need to type this once per running Firefox session, and only if you want Firefox to auto-fill a password for you.

Me, I actually use this feature. Thing is, my laptop is hibernating and resuming for months in a row, without restarting, and Firefox keeps running as well. So although I use Firefox all the time, I only start it maybe once in 6 months, so it works fine for me ;-)

Anyway, security almost always gets in the way of convenience

 

Wow, I wouldn't want to know how much memory your FF is using...800k? lol

 

you know i have that fingerprint scanner thing and i have never used it. How do u activate it? does it come with a software cause everytime i try looking or activate it i can't ?

 

Yes there is Software for it which contains Drivers and software to make it work

here is the link

AuthenTec Inc. AES2501 Fingerprint Driver

 

As much as it has to, depending on how many tabs I have open. Did you know there are hidden Firefox settings in about:config that control how much RAM it uses?

Plus, for performance, it doesn't really matter how much RAM FF uses, as long as it only uses the super fast RAM, and not Swap memory. It won't get sluggish when it's all in RAM. There are ways on Linux to ensure that.

 

You should never save passwords on the net, didn't your mother told you so?

 

Thanks, I'll add this for JIC.

 

my scanner has that driver update.. but how do i make it work????? activate it, register my fingerprint and all????

 

Yea Just Start the Application which came with drivers and rest is simple ;D Register your fingerprints and Rock On