In essence, this opens up the Credential Manager, which can also be run from the Start Search text box when clicking on the Start button. To access these stored credentials, or to store a credential yourself, you can go to the User Accounts snap-in in Control Panel, then select the Manage your credentials option on the left panel, as shown in Figure 1.įigure 1: Manage My Credentials within User Accounts snap-in Also, passwords are stored in a different way in Windows 7, which is in a vault. Windows 7 changes this slightly as there is now a different interface, different name for the feature, etc. On the Advanced tab you will click on the Manage Passwords button to access the Stored User Names and Passwords interface. You could access this feature from the Advanced tab within the User Accounts dialog box. In Windows XP the feature was called Stored User Names and Passwords. The evolution is in the name and features that are provided for the feature. This feature started around Windows XP and has evolved since that time. Although this is a time saving option, you might want to reconsider using this feature due to security issues.

In Windows you have the ability to store the credentials for resources that you access often, or just don't want to have to remember the password.

I am sure you have seen this, either in a prompt or a check box, asking you to save the password. So, there have been options in the operating system to save usernames and passwords for faster and easier access. For years users have wanted to save time and effort when accessing servers on the network, Web sites requiring credentials, etc.

Windows needs your credentials