[Plugin: Login Dongle] After activate, then what?

1. Install the plugin.
2. Activate it.
3. Edit your user profile.
4. Locate the Login Dongle section.
5. Fill in the Challenge and the Response fields, and also tick both checkboxes.
6. Save your user profile.
7. Have your browser show the bookmarks bar if it’s currently hidden.
8. Now locate in your just saved user profile the text that reads: ‘After saving any changes you should drag ad drop into your bookmarks this login dongle bookmarklet’. You will notice that the “login dongle” words in that text are actually a link.
9. Click on that link without releasing the mouse button.
10. Move the mouse such that the cursor is finally placed onto the bookmarks bar.
11. Release the mouse button there. (the sequence 9 through 11 is what goes under the expression “drag and drop”).
12. If you were lucky, you will see a new bookmark in your bookmarks bar. If you do not see it, please make sure that it’s not been placed by your browser after many other bookmarks already displayed. That happens some time.
13. If you do not see the new bookmark, it’s possible that for some reason the drag and drop operation was not exactly perfect, so just repeat steps 9 through 11 as many times as required for the new bookmark to appear on the bar.
14. Some browsers use better names than others for drag-and-dropped bookmarks. If you do not like the name, just click on it with the right button of the mouse without releasing the button. A short menu should appear, and one menu option should be available for editing the bookmark. Move the mouse such that the cursor highlights the edit option and release the mouse button there. A browser dialog box should appear, and there should be a way for changing the name of the bookmark. Do as you see fit, and save and close the dialog.
15. Now yo can test your new login dongle by logging out of your blog.
16. In the same browser with the new bookmark, open the login page as you were used.
17. Fill in your username and your password as usual.
18. If you now click the Log In button on the login page, you should see as a result the message that you configured for improper access. That is OK, it means that the login dongle plugin is working as it should.
19. Go back to the login page. All fields should already be filled, but if they are not, then simply fill them again, BUT do not click the Log In button on the login page.
20. Instead, click the new bookmark. A small dialog box should appear with the text of the challenge you configured and near it an empty text box.
21. Fill the box with the response that you configured.
22. Accept the dialog box.
23. If all is working OK, you should now be logged in.

Andrea, THANK YOU!

I will not be able to step-by-step until Sunday due to classes and I need to go to bed… You made me smile out loud with steps 9-14. Thank you for being so specific, all those steps will help not only someone who just didn’t get the dongle login part, but also someone who is just learning how their computer works.

I don’t why it is, but sometimes my brain just doesn’t see the whole picture from a set of instructions.

I have 2 follow-on questions.

1. After I’ve successfully configured the dongle, I should only login from my bookmarks?
2. If I add a login button for my contributors from the footer of my page, will the login dongle work like that? Anything special I need to do? (oops, that was 3)

Kittie Rue

You welcome.

1. Yes, you’ll have to always use the bookmark. The Login Dongle plugin causes the standard Log In button to not work. It also makes it impossible to automatically check your login data. Brute force attackers, when trying to get access to your blog, not only use programs to try many different combinations, but they also do it without ever filling the login page…

2. Each of your contributors can access your blog as they were used to, without the need for a bookmark. That is actually a good thing, because the most attacked account is usually the “admin”. However, each of them can have their own different bookmark, and also completely different from yours. They can configure their login dongle by themselves or you can do it on their behalf as the admin. Each user’s profile is where the login dongle is configured, saved, and drag-and-dropped to the bookmarks bar and / or sent to their email.

Remember two things: (a) the plugin works ONLY for users whose challenge is set to something not empty, otherwise the standard Log In button will work as usual for them. (b) If you configure your other contributors’ login dongles, then they must create their bookmark using the code they received in the email, BUT if they configure their login dongles themselves then they can drag-and-drop the bookmarks.

(I think they were 2, really ??