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Safari auto form entering patch. Free
Autocomplete Always On! is a script which patches WebKit (MacOS X's HTML rendering engine, used by Safari), to ignore the "autocomplete" flag (a non-standard HTML extension of IE). This flag is used by some (but not all) banks and other web sites to disable a browser's AutoFill feature on certain web pages.
The bad news is that Apple often makes changes to WebKit, which overwrite this patch, so this patch may need to be re-applied after system and security updates. But the good news is this script is fairly resilient the way it is written, and is likely to work long into the
The bad news is that Apple often makes changes to WebKit, which overwrite this patch, so this patch may need to be re-applied after system and security updates. But the good news is this script is fairly resilient the way it is written, and is likely to work long into the
What's New
Version 1: Release notes were unavailable at the time of this listing.
Requirements
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
PPC / Intel, Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
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Autocomplete Alway... User Discussion (Write a Review)
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Autocomplete Always On! is a script which patches WebKit (MacOS X's HTML rendering engine, used by Safari), to ignore the "autocomplete" flag (a non-standard HTML extension of IE). This flag is used by some (but not all) banks and other web sites to disable a browser's AutoFill feature on certain web pages.
The bad news is that Apple often makes changes to WebKit, which overwrite this patch, so this patch may need to be re-applied after system and security updates. But the good news is this script is fairly resilient the way it is written, and is likely to work long into the future, even with newer versions of Mac OS or Safari.
How the patch works: Only two bytes are changed in the WebCore file. Two lookup table entries for the word "autocomplete" are altered by changing the "A" character to an "x". This effectively disables checking for the "autocomplete=off" flag, so the flag is ignored. A one-line perl search-and-replace call makes the patch. This simple technique should allow the script to function well into the future over many different versions of WebKit, Mac OS and Safari.
This script is an open source AppleScript application.
About security: While the "autocomplete=off" gimmick might increase security for a malware infested OS like Windoze, the opposite is true for a secure OS like MacOS X. Use of this flag is actually a security risk for the Mac user because it encourages users to use weak passwords, or to save them on disk as a plaintext file. Passwords are far more secure sitting encrypted in the Mac's Keychain (which Safari uses to store this kind of information). If you don't have to remember and type in the password manually, you are far more likely to use a strong password.
The bad news is that Apple often makes changes to WebKit, which overwrite this patch, so this patch may need to be re-applied after system and security updates. But the good news is this script is fairly resilient the way it is written, and is likely to work long into the future, even with newer versions of Mac OS or Safari.
How the patch works: Only two bytes are changed in the WebCore file. Two lookup table entries for the word "autocomplete" are altered by changing the "A" character to an "x". This effectively disables checking for the "autocomplete=off" flag, so the flag is ignored. A one-line perl search-and-replace call makes the patch. This simple technique should allow the script to function well into the future over many different versions of WebKit, Mac OS and Safari.
This script is an open source AppleScript application.
About security: While the "autocomplete=off" gimmick might increase security for a malware infested OS like Windoze, the opposite is true for a secure OS like MacOS X. Use of this flag is actually a security risk for the Mac user because it encourages users to use weak passwords, or to save them on disk as a plaintext file. Passwords are far more secure sitting encrypted in the Mac's Keychain (which Safari uses to store this kind of information). If you don't have to remember and type in the password manually, you are far more likely to use a strong password.
Copyright © 2012 MacUpdate LLC
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+3
gregwelch reviewed on 16 Jun 2009
+12
Safari 2.0.4 (running Saft and SafariStand, in case that matters), OS 10.4.7.
To determine if the site is using the Autocomplete flag, view its source and search for "autocomplete". If nothing shows up, the site is using a different means to prevent your password from being auto-filled.
Sometimes this is achieved through Javascript (which can be quickly disabled via the Developer menu; don't forget to reload the page). Of course you also have to have Safari's preference set to fill in passwords.
If you have strong physical control over your Mac, having it remember your bank's password is more secure than using an easy to remember password which can be easily hacked. Clearly everybody's situation is different, so YMMV.
+1
+1
iMacG5number2 reviewed on 09 Apr 2006