passwords

Someone told me recently that they had 22 different log-in IDs. My first thought was, you must get out more. My second thought was, how do you remember 22 different Web services, let alone log-in IDs and passwords?

The answer, of course, is a password manager. These days, I see PC security as a form of insurance. The more you have to risk, the more you should spend to protect it. Anyone who banks or otherwise transacts online will find the investment in a password and personal-data manager worthwhile. Fortunately, if your password-management needs are meager, the protection doesn't have to cost you anything.

Siber Systems recently announced the beta version of RoboForm Online that lets RoboForm users store their log-in data securely online. Just log into the service from any browser and get fast access to the IDs you've saved on your PC. With just one you're logged into your favorite Web sites.

The first time you use the program, you're prompted to enter a master password. You can change the master password via the program's Options drop-down menu and selecting Security settings, but if you forget a master password, you have to delete all the password-protected files and start over.

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"The system was unable to unlock your keychain" may be an error message users could encounter when starting their Mac from the Mac OS X 10.6 Install disk after changing their keychain or user password. Options to proceed are to "Continue log in", "Create New Keychain", or to "Update Keychain Password". We take a closer look at these options so you know what to do if you encounter this issue.… Read more

PrivyPad provides a method to encrypt messages. However, the program's complicated method of reading messages practically ruins an otherwise successful tool.

The program's interface looked instantly familiar, since it mimicks Notepad. While familiar, we still needed to find definitions for our encryption options in the Help file. We created a message just like a normal Notepad document, but were also able to quickly encrypt by simply adding a password with the toolbar icon. At this point we were confused because our message looked the same. It wasn't until we saved the program to our hard drive as … Read more

NotesLogExp offers to help users organize practically any bit of information into centralized location. While its design is a little boring, its simple categories are sure to help those flustered by organization.

This program is certainly not going to win any awards for its design, but this bland white screen and several entry fields are the simplest we could hope for. While we could have managed without the Help file, the insight it provided on the program's functionality made the process much smoother. We only needed to populate a new entry's many fields to start filing away information. … Read more

Password Depot offers users a safe-house to store all of their usernames and passwords. We found it extremely intuitive to navigate and were impressed by its variety of customization options.

The program requires that you enter a master password to access the program. Very straightforward command buttons line the top of the program's user interface (Add, Delete, Modify, Search, and so on). The Group feature made it easy to organize and quickly locate our different password accounts. Entering new information was simply a matter of clicking the Add button, and inputting our username, password, URL, and assigning it an … Read more

Laptops are all the rage these days, but they're easily stolen, even from places you think are safe, like work. Even if you just lose a laptop, you probably don't want anyone to have easy access to all your data just by pressing the power button.

That's why the first step (definitely not the last, but the first step to protecting your laptop) is to put strong password protection on your user accounts. Most people think this is a pain, but it's easy to set up and a small price to pay in inconvenience to keep … Read more

Periodically, readers will need to access files off old computers that they have kept stashed away for years (I still have my PowerBook 150, and will probably never get rid of it). If you are one of these people and have protected your old Mac with OS 9's password protection, there may be a chance you have forgotten your log-in password and cannot access your system. As with OS X, in order to get around the password protection in OS 9 you will need a boot CD, in this case preferably one that's loads the classic Mac OS.… Read more

Passwords by Mask is a basic program that allows users to generate random passwords and usernames. Although the program is not particularly attractive, it works well enough as a password generator.

The program's interface is a mess of buttons and is sort of hard to look at. The appearance is somewhat dated and clunky, and it could definitely be better organized. Each button represents one of the potential 20 characters that the generated password can contain. Click on a button, and you can select whether you want each character to be completely random, or a number, upper or lower … Read more

ID Vault is an incredibly useful program that helps users keep their personal information secure while managing their usernames and passwords. While we'd like to see the program deal with browsers a little more smoothly, overall we were quite impressed with it.

The program's interface is sleek and intuitive. The program includes its own browser, and to start, users simply navigate to a Web site that they would typically sign in to, such as their bank, and enter their username and password. ID Vault will then show a prompt asking if the user successfully logged in; if so, … Read more