Safari 4.0.1 update causing password issues on some sites

MacFixIt reader Jefferis P. brings to our attention an issue regarding Safari 4.0.1 activating a pop up screen requesting a password when attempting to access the Apple Support Discussions site. With recent reports of malware and socially engineered sites designed to trick Mac users into downloading Trojans, this understandably looked suspicious.

Jefferis writes:

"I just tried to log into discussions after being on them earlier in the day in Safari, and when I come to the discussions area, even the main page, an htaccess type screen pops up and says to enter my password and user name, only it is not to the normal log in screen. It is like a javascript pop up saying "log in is necessary to access discussions.apple: 80. Pilot Forums Your password will be sent unencrypted."

This looks incredibly suspicious. I'm now logged in with Firefox and no problems. Is this a glitch on Apple or some kind of hack of Safari?"

Possible solution
According to an Apple Support Discussions forum thread started by Jefferis on the subject, the solution appears to be deleting the Safari preference file "com.apple.Safari.plist". You can find this file here: Macintosh HD > Users > username > Library > Preferences

You might also try a full reset of Safari. After any update be sure to repair your permissions using Disk Utility (Applications > Utilities) and of course be sure to have a stable backup of all your important data.

Resources
You can read the Apple Support Discussions thread regarding Safari 4.0.1 asking for passwords here.

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