Any help with recovering a membership password please.x

[LauraUK]

Hi there,
I'm trying to recover a password for a membership-only site, (i have the username just not the password),

Sorry for this long winded tale, i just wanted to make sure all you really helpful people had all the facts. As you can probably tell from the rambling that follows, I'm getting lost in a maze of different file paths, encryption and password types etc etc etc ....

I have no prior knowledge of this at all but have tried to research it extensively my self online; i have now reached the point where its totally beyond me!!

The password / username had been saved on my laptop via the remember me thingy (tho the password was obviously replaced with dots), so all i had to do was go back into the address bar, and i could access the account.

I stupidly put a different account in the same site, and since then the original login details have disappeared.

I have NOT deleted any browsing history etc, but i have done a system restore (however the restore point was after the date i was first able to access the account, in a vain attempt to retrieve the lost account details). Also there has been an automatic update of some description (you know the type where the pc restarts itself, it was at this point i could no longer access the account after the laptop re started).

Through google stuff i've found my way to recommended registry files; but they are gobildy-**** and i dont know what else to do with them!

I have also found my way to files within Application Data\Microsoft\Credentials; but either cant open the file types or they are in gobildy-****!

I have also tried a free-download password finding software, which has given me all my email passwords, but not the membership site i'm looking for (I have added the login address of the site in question, to a word-pad file that the software instructions suggested).

Is there anyway at all to retrieve this password?
If so, would anyone by kind enough to put it down in extra simple step-by-step terms.

Incase this helps...
internet explorer version 7.0;
vindows vista home basic version 6.0
there is only one user account on the laptop

Thanks in advance for any advice at all. x

[JPnyc]

What sort of membership site has no provisions for retrieving a password? It should be as simple as contacting the site administrator.

[LauraUK]

Hi,

I am aware asking this question comes across as being a bit stalker-ish.

Unfortunatly my spouce has been using a dating site, we've had a issues with this in the past; for personal reasons, i really do feel i need to 'see for my self' whats going on before addressing the issue.

so, cant reset the password without him knowing. x

[JPnyc]

Understood.

[CyberB0b]

SIW (System Information for Windows http://www.gtopala.com/) has a "Secrets" option that can sometimes recover saved passwords from IE.

[LauraUK]

cheers cyberb0b, i'm checking it out now. x

[nihil]

You might like to look at this:

http://www.techmixer.com/remove-stor...windows-vista/

It should let you see what is actually still there?

I must point out that whilst you might have been able to use a stored password in the past; they can be both deleted or corrupted so they won't work anymore. Also, the password could have been changed on the site and not stored again.

I am not sure if restore points work for passwords, but suspect that they might not, as you would restore obsolete ones that are no longer valid, and lose ones that were stored more recently?

To be brutally frank, if I were using a dating site I would not:

1. Store a bookmark/favourite.
2. Store a user account ID
3. Store a password
4. Use one of my wife's computers.

In other words you are quite possibly looking for something that isn't there, particularly as you say:

we've had a issues with this in the past

As he knows that you know, perhaps he has been more careful?

[HYBR|D]

What browser are you using? Or what browser has the other half being using to log into the site?

[pabu_boy]

I had a friend in a situation like yours. We were unable to recover the password.
If your spouce is using your computer to log into the site in question you could always try a keylogger and catch the password next time he logs in.

Just my 2cents.

[nihil]

Oh great! we have a UK divorce lawyer in our midst

If your spouce is using your computer to log into the site in question you could always try a keylogger and catch the password next time he logs in.

That's when you commit a criminal (as in "felony") offence.......................

If I have legitimate access to a computer, and there is a link that I just have to click, then it has been left in "plain view" and I would get away with it provided I caused no damage and did not engage in other criminal activities as a result. Consent to view is effectively implied?

Using a keylogger is not allowed, even on "your" computer............ (and property ownership in a marriage partnership isn't clear cut)....... when it is used as a means of accessing the PRIVATE account of another individual without their permission. Remember, the account is NOT ON "YOUR" COMPUTER, it is on someone else's, and you don't have permission? In several countries or states this would be legislated against as "unlawful access"........... in the UK, try the "Misuse Of Computers Act 1990"

http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1990...00018_en_1.htm

I don't like the fact that the OP was not honest with us in the first place. Also:

I stupidly put a different account in the same site, and since then the original login details have disappeared.

Same site name + same IP address would doubtless get it overwritten?

And:

so, cant reset the password without him knowing.

Or without knowing the original password, and commiting a criminal offence...........

My advice is go see a divorce lawyer before you dig a hole that you can't climb out of..............