Roboform
A while back, we reviewed some possibilities for keeping secure passwords. The best idea that came out of that discussion was the “variation on a formula” idea, in which you always use a standard formula such as your mom’s birth date, plus the initials of your first girlfriend, plus the first three letters of the website/service you’re creating a password for. Unless the website or service changes names unexpectedly (and you can’t remember what it was called before!), this formula application should work extremely well.
Along comes Roboform, a neat little free utility you can download (from www.roboform.com), which will detect and keep track of all the passwords you have stored on your computer.
It will not only save your passwords, but it will auto-fill them in login forms, click the logon button for you, and fill in personal info into online forms if you wish (I wish Google’s Toolbar to accomplish this).
The application is installed on your hard drive, and then you create a MASTER PASSWORD. This is the tricky part, of course – you cannot forget THIS password. To use the application’s other services, you will need to log on with that password.
From then on, like any other utility, it will be as useful as you make it. You do have to take some time to get the most out of it – in order to auto-fill forms, to use the offline features and notes, and so forth, you will have to set these areas up with the data that you’d like to keep secure.
I actually had a list of UN/PW and other account information I kept with me in a relatively secure location. Still, it’s about as unsafe a practice as you can follow in terms of keeping your passwords secure. The actual data is stored on YOUR computer only, but even if you computer is stolen – this information cannot be accessed unless the thief has your master password.
You can take Roboform with you on your thumb drive, so that should you be visiting your sister in Peoria (why are these visits always to places like Peoria?), you will have access to all your online logins and other personal data – and it won’t end up copied to her computer!
Roboform will also generate secure random passwords for you, if you have trouble coming up with something other than your first name as a password.
There is no adware or spyware (and I’ve been using it for a while), and it will use it IE, as well as Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox (under Windows).
Give it a try – and let me know how you like it!
A while back, we reviewed some possibilities for keeping secure passwords. The best idea that came out of that discussion was the “variation on a formula” idea, in which you always use a standard formula such as your mom’s birth date, plus the initials of your first girlfriend, plus the first three letters of the website/service you’re creating a password for. Unless the website or service changes names unexpectedly (and you can’t remember what it was called before!), this formula application should work extremely well.
Along comes Roboform, a neat little free utility you can download (from www.roboform.com), which will detect and keep track of all the passwords you have stored on your computer.
It will not only save your passwords, but it will auto-fill them in login forms, click the logon button for you, and fill in personal info into online forms if you wish (I wish Google’s Toolbar to accomplish this).
The application is installed on your hard drive, and then you create a MASTER PASSWORD. This is the tricky part, of course – you cannot forget THIS password. To use the application’s other services, you will need to log on with that password.
From then on, like any other utility, it will be as useful as you make it. You do have to take some time to get the most out of it – in order to auto-fill forms, to use the offline features and notes, and so forth, you will have to set these areas up with the data that you’d like to keep secure.
I actually had a list of UN/PW and other account information I kept with me in a relatively secure location. Still, it’s about as unsafe a practice as you can follow in terms of keeping your passwords secure. The actual data is stored on YOUR computer only, but even if you computer is stolen – this information cannot be accessed unless the thief has your master password.
You can take Roboform with you on your thumb drive, so that should you be visiting your sister in Peoria (why are these visits always to places like Peoria?), you will have access to all your online logins and other personal data – and it won’t end up copied to her computer!
Roboform will also generate secure random passwords for you, if you have trouble coming up with something other than your first name as a password.
There is no adware or spyware (and I’ve been using it for a while), and it will use it IE, as well as Netscape, Mozilla, and Firefox (under Windows).
Give it a try – and let me know how you like it!
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