See "Accounts" for a definition of passwords; here we will only deal with how TOPS Terminal works with them. TOPS Terminal knows what passwords are and does its best to help you manage them.
Each account description may or may not contain a password in scrambled form. If it does not contain a password, then TOPS Terminal will ask you to type the password when the other computer asks for one. If it does contain a password, that password will be sent to the other computer when the other computer asks, without your intervention.
You can add a password to an account description that doesn't have one stored, or remove the password from an account description that does have one stored.
Go to the Settings menu and pull down Accounts. Select the account description and click on the Open button. The account description will appear, with a check box controlling the password setting. (TOPS Terminal does not show the password - that would be insecure.) Clicking on the check box turns it on and off. When you turn on the password check box in the account description, you will be asked for the password to store in the account description.
Storing a password in an account description makes that account less secure: that is, it will be easier for others to pretend to be you and use your account. They need only acquire a copy of your TOPS Terminal Memory file.
A malicious individual could connect using a copy of your TOPS Terminal Memory file, so that your name and password would be sent; or they could unscramble the password in your TOPS Terminal Memory file (with some difficulty) and pretend to be you that way.
In an open office environment, it would usually be easy for someone to surreptitiously copy your TOPS Terminal Memory file. The security of home systems varies depending on the number and type of visitors; but a dormitory room typically has many visitors, and could not be considered secure.
Even if you decide, for security reasons, not to store the password in the account description, TOPS Terminal will remember it in "soft" memory (RAM). This is more secure than storing it in the account description. If you connect to the same account again before giving a Quit command, the password will be recalleded from RAM and sent; you won't be asked to type it again.
Still, this means that someone could pretend to be you if you leave your computer unattended before quitting TOPS Terminal. Possibly someone could extract your password from RAM as well, but it would be difficult.
If this feature is too insecure for your taste, simply pull down Your Preferences from the Settings menu and turn off the Remember Passwords preference.
