Four Password Managers To Wrangle Those Pesky Passwords

Posted by on 08/30 at 06:00 AM Discuss in Forums • Permalink
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Passwords. They’re a blessing and a curse, aren’t they? In today’s digital world, we all seem to have passwords for … well, for everything. And a lot of passwords. For online banking, Web mail, e-commerce sites, our favorite Web applications, and more.

As many of us have learned, though, it can be hard to remember all of those passwords. If you forget a password, the kinds of sites mentioned in the last paragraph can either send you a password or reset it. But that’s takes a bit of time and just adds to the confusion.

While you can write down your passwords in a paper notebook (remember those?) or in a file on your hard drive, what happens if you lose the notebook or delete the file? Or if someone else gets hold of them? The situation will end in tears.

Instead of relying on your memory or more traditional ways of storing passwords, why not turn to a password manager?

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    Posted by Frank  on  08/30  at  11:16 AM

  1. At our company, we use Mitto (http://mitto.com). It’s a really easy to use online password manager, and they’re certified by McAfee and TRUSTe. The best part is it’s free!

    2. Posted by Jonathan Murray  on  08/30  at  02:31 PM

  2. I can’t believe you didn’t mention the gold standard in password/forms management:  RoboForm.

    Been using it for years, as a matter of fact, I just used it to fill out the form above this message!

    3. Posted by NRK  on  08/30  at  02:49 PM

  3. Duh, I have had this on my Mac, built in, for years. Just another reason why Mac TCO is less… unless your time is worth nothing.

    4. Posted by MAURICE BAYMON  on  08/30  at  04:49 PM

  4. I cannot believe you did not consider RoboForm (http://www.roboform.com) from Siber Systems, Inc. I suffered the loss of my left temporal lobe during the first of three brain surgeries, so I literally do not have any short-term memory. It’s like that movie, uh, hold on ... Memento (2000) (I had to look it up on IMDb.com). Anyway, without RoboForm, it would not be possible for me to function on The Internet.

    Not only does it automatically generate and store passwords for an unlimited number of websites, it also stores my personal information and fills in forms for me! That is an invaluable aid, since I do as much of my shopping and any other business as possible on line. This keeps me from having to carry around a cheat sheet to fill in paperwork with information that most people “know by heart”.

    5. Posted by Al Longbrake  on  08/30  at  06:51 PM

  5. Thanks for the info, I need one of those

    6. Posted by Lakshmianraismhan  on  08/30  at  09:29 PM

  6. This also is not fool proof way as the SW runs on Drive C which may fail!

    7. Posted by Bruce Epper  on  08/31  at  03:09 AM

  7. Users of Norton 360 also have the option of using Identity Safe which integrates with their web browser via the Norton Toolbar.  One advantage is the option of autofilling forms whcih can include credit card information thereby bypassing any keyloggers that may have infected the system.

    As far as long using the pseudo-random password generation feature, it deosn’t really matter too much because most people don’t pick random passwords themselves.  Many like to use familiar patterns of keystorkes and it makes it even easier to crack those than most machine generated password.  (I’m speaking from exdperience here.  I used to crack passwords on a previous employers systems as part of my regular security testing.)

    8. Posted by Q  on  08/31  at  03:37 AM

  8. The article states:
    “While you can write down your passwords in a paper notebook (remember those?) or in a file on your external hard drive, what happens if you lose the notebook or delete the file?”

    How are the password managers any different? If the hard drive fails, you lose the file (either your personal file or the password manager).

    The online manager gets around this issue but as the article points out how can you “be 100% confident” your passwords are secure? I have that same concern with any password manager. How do I know I can trust the software? Its easy enough to keep my own encrypted file (which is regularly backed up).

    You can never be too paranoid.

    9. Posted by Sean  on  08/31  at  05:18 AM

  9. While Keypass itself may not be available for Linux, KeyPassX is.  It looks and works exactly like KeyPass, and the database files are supposed to be compatible.

    10. Posted by deanhouseholder  on  08/31  at  06:10 AM

  10. I’m glad you mentioned KeePass as this is the best password manager out there (I’ve done extensive testing).  But you forgot to mention that the 1.x version is compatible with a lot of forks out there such as KeePassX which works natively on Linux and Mac.  Also ports for Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, etc.  They’re all listed on the main download page: http://keepass.info/download.html.

    KeePass can import almost any other password manager’s passwords so converting is easy.  And the best feature by far is Auto-Type.  With a hotkey combination (default CTRL+ALT+a) KeePass will look at the title of the window (web browser or application) and match the login based on the title stored in your KeePass entry.  That means it works anywhere in your OS.

    I found a lot of people using DropBox to sync copies between multiple computers and even use it to download over http to their mobile devices.

    Do yourself a favor and check out KeePass!

    P.S.  The Linux (and maybe Mac) version using Mono restricts you from doing two essential features of KeePass.  1) Change the hotkey combinations (I prefer Alt+Shift+a), and 2) minimizing to System Tray.  Because of these limitations I’m using the 1.x version with KeePassX on Linux, and syncing to my Windows and BlackBerry phone, and loving it!

    11. Posted by Brian  on  08/31  at  07:09 AM

  11. another worth mentioning is Xmarks, formerly Foxmarks. It saves all your bookmarks as well as your id/passwords and also synchronize your home, work, laptop, or any computer you want to include. I’m using it with firefox, but I believe it works with most popular browsers. Just be aware that if you use this or any password manager at work to log off or lock your computer when away.

    12. Posted by Norma  on  11/16  at  09:36 PM

  12. I did this in MSWord

    13. Posted by rickwoz  on  01/10  at  10:35 AM

  13. Tell ya what ..... ‘RoBoForm Pro’ and
    ‘RoboForm ToGo’ are VERY GOOD programs. Been using them for years.  The ‘ToGo’ is invaluable for away from your home bunker.

    14. Posted by sohbet odalari  on  03/07  at  08:55 AM

  14. Thank you for this very useful information.

    15. Posted by Facebook Layouts  on  04/01  at  03:40 PM

  15. Many like to use familiar patterns of keystorkes and it makes it even easier to crack those than most machine generated password.

    16. Posted by travesti siteleri  on  04/12  at  04:22 PM

  16. Thanks for helpful information you catch up us with your sagol instructional çok explanation.

    17. Page 1 of 1 pages

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