As you have seen more than once, Windows and many other programs store keys and passwords by hiding them under asterisks. The problem is when you have forgotten what they are, making it impossible to access the program, application, etc. In these cases you need a program like Asterisks Password Viewer.
Asterisks Password Viewer lets you view the keys that are hidden under those asterisks.
Some of the programs that you can, for example, see the passwords for are: Internet Explorer, MS Outlook, Outlook Express, The Bat, CuteFTP, FlashFXP, etc.