With the latest versions of its desktop and mobile operating systems, Microsoft synchronizes passwords for websites people visit with the Internet Explorer browser. The sync service means that a password entered on IE11 on Windows 8.1 will be migrated to IE11 running on Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft said in a blog post on Monday. IE11 also does a better job of detecting login pages so that users will be prompted to save passwords more often. Passwords, although an onerous part of the computing world, are ever more common as companies try to build direct relationships with customers through user accounts. Making passwords easier to handle — especially on mobile devices where it’s harder to type oddball combinations of letters, numbers, and punctuation — is a significant time-saver for people.