Re: We wiill send you a code

micky, 2025-06-09 17:18:

I'm seeing more and  more webpages that, after entering my userid, want
to send me a code to log in to the page.  For a computer user, this is
just silly, when he could have stored his password so that it pops right
up, without going to read a text or email. And using one's password
always has been the second option

This is called "second factor" and became quite common, since passwords
are usually not very secure in the way how many people use them. As long
as you did not switch to Passkey or add a second factor like TOTP, many
websites now use "has access to the given e-mail account" as a
substitute for this - even though this might be compromised as well.

So I'm thinking this change must have come about because of smart
phones, right?? And that implies it's harder to save password in smart
phones than in computers.  Is that so, and why? And why have they not
fixed it? 

No, it is just because insecure online services exist, where user
account information including passwords or weak password hashes based on
MD5 etc. get stolen. Also using password managers is not that common as
it should be.

--
Arno Welzel
https://arnowelzel.de