request help from savvy Mac users

Magpie

Magpie

Immortal
I use a Mac at work (PC at home). It's got an old operating system OS X 10.2.8 so I have to run fairly old versions of software on it as well. I'm getting a new computer in a week or two and I'm trying to find various settings and plug ins that I want to save for the new computer.


I currently have Firefox 2 and I want to save my passwords but I can't find this info anywhere. At home I go to Tools > Options and find the passwords under the security tab. But this version of Firefox doesn't have Options under the Tools button. Looking on the web just tells me to go to Tools > Options as well. I don't have too many buttons/menus/commands on this version of Firefox so I just can't see where I could be missing it. Is there any one who can clue me in as to where I would look.

It won't be a disaster if I can't find it but it would be nice not to lose something I regret later.

Thanks,
 
Should be under the menu closest to the apple on the left. Usually, if it's found in Options on Windows, it's found in Preferences on Mac OS X. Usually. :)
 
(I'm not at work so I can't check)

is this preference menu visible when Firefox is active? (so that the name Firefox shows in the top bar). I think the left most menu is File. So, the 'save page' choice is there, for example.
 
On Macs, the leftmost menu (before you hit the apple) will read as the name of the program running, so in this case will be the "Firefox" menu. The next one over to that is "File", but the Preferences should always be under the menu that is the name of the program running.

I know there's a way to get at your preferences without the program running, but it's convoluted and just easier to launch Firefox I think.
 
I was asking for clarification because, from my memory... I don't remember any option that would let me get at anything that accessed passwords. I looked at every main entry and every fly out entry. But it's possible I missed it so I will look specifically for preferences. But I didn't want to be looking for it under the Firefox tool bar if that's not where you thought it was.

thanks for the help, Lunamoth (love you're name, btw... I love those little green moths)
 
And thanks. :) They're my favourite moth.

I'm not in front of my Mac (we use Windows PCs at work) but in the User library might also be a place to pull out that information. But I'd need to be in front of my Mac to go through the steps to finding that. Wish I could be more help.
 
but first... she's not overly fond of Macs, doesn't know much about them, and doesn't really want to figure things out. And second, she's not quick to volunteer to do things I would consider her job. The entire company is getting new computers and she'll just tell people: put everything you want to save in one location on your harddrive and that's what I'll transfer to the new computer.

Then, when people start to grumble that they've lost all their settings for stuff... she'll just wave her hand and say, "I told you to save what you wanted." Now... I know that most people have no clue what is on their computer and what they rely on without ever thinking about. I do have some clue so I'm going in to find Photoshop plug ins I've downloaded and custom swatch collections I've saved and bookmarks for Firefox (I did figure out how to do that).

The worst is, when she doesn't know what she's doing, she monkeys with stuff and then I have to figure out what she's done and put it all back.

I don't think I have lots of sites I need passwords for. I hope I've saved most of them in a written manner. And, worst case scenario, most sites will prompt you or let you get a new password. I'm sure I'll be okay. I just wanted to at least give it a try.
 
Sorry for the exclamation. I finally get what you need. You need to back up your Keychain. *smacks own forehead* Here:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2980#key

That's where all of your passwords should be stored.
 
it turns out that the passwords can be accessed using preferences. I'm not usually that dense in finding stuff but ... what can I say. I was in this case.

As far as saving them, the keychain suggestion you made isn't helping me because the link you provided is for Safari and I'm using Firefox. The first suggestion is also to us Go > Utilities and I don't have a Utilities option.

But I'm finding some add ons for exporting passwords so I'll try one of them (if I can figure out about installing programs on Mac... (oi... all this just so I can switch to Windows which I know better!)

thanks, Lunamoth. At the very least, I can take a screen shot of these passwords and print them out.
 
In the "Firefox" menu (on the left of the menu bar), under "Preferences", there should be a tab for "Security" under which there is a button that should say "Saved passwords." I noticed this the other day when I was at home, but forgot to mention it here. Clicking that will open a dialog that lists the usernames you've saved, and from there you have to select the button marked "show passwords". It'll ask if you're sure you want to do that; select yes and it'll list the passwords there. Then you can hide them again before closing it.
 
I just can't seem to export them in any way. I can look at them but I want to access them on my new computer.
 
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/2848

Firefox extension to export passwords. I'm one of those people who uses the same password for everything (yeah I know) so I never really thought about having more than a couple to remember.
 
It did export them into a doc which seems a little wonky. That is, I can't open it by dragging it into my doc software. But if I open the doc software and tell it to open the file, I can.

The addon gives me the choice to save it as a xml or csv file but whichever I chose just gives me a file with no extension. Ah... I just added the extension .csv and then it opened up as a spread sheet.

So... I have my passwords. I'm not sure how successfully I can import them into the new computer but I have a file that I can copy and paste info out of so I can manage one way or another.

thanks, Lunamoth. In another month, I'll probably be asking for help with Windows 7! :-)
 
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