(this comes across as a product plug, but its well worth it - I try to give credit where its due) 

As time goes on many of us find ourselves in knee deep in Password Hell.  You know how it feels, you have about a gazillion web sites which you have signed up for at some point in time and you have no idea what credentials you used for each.  Many people that I talk to start to consolidate their passwords to a single value, or a set of values and use them across all their logins.  Ask any security guy about the implications for that and he is likely to slap you upside the head.  Not to mention this doesn't play well with those sites which require fairly complex passwords and have policies set which you need to keep them changing after X number of days or whatever.  Another way which I found myself doing quite allot was trying the password reminder function prior to registration.  What a mess.

Recommended Tool 

So whats my solution you ask?  Well its quite simple:  I use a password manager application.  After quite a deep look in the market for the "best" manager out there I went with RoboForm.
 

Diligence & Pre-sales support

Whenever I do any sort of diligence on a product which I plan on spending my hard earned money on I usually do a number of basic checks.  On of which is randomly contacting their support department and asking a somewhat silly support question.  This is important for me because I like to see how they handle pre-sales support.  If they are not willing to answer my question, or simply never get back to me I just dump them and move on.  Support, for me, is quite an important part of the software lifecycle.  No support, no puchase. Yes I have been told many times that I'm quite a binary person;  there is usually no gray area for me.

That initial support request and every single support request since I actually made my purchase from RoboForm has been exceptional.  Recently my USB flash drive was stolen and I was forced to upgrade (twist my rubber arm) to a new drive.  Well with RoboForm you are allowed a certain number of activations, which I passed my limit.  I hit their support site and within 4 minutes (yes 4 MINUTES), they responded to my inquiry and upped my activation count.  I couldn't ask for anything better; exceptional service.  I guess this is what prompted me to blog about it this morning.
 

More on RoboForm

I have become so reliant to RoboForm I simply cant see my online life without it.  I use it to store my complete personal and professional profile and with one click of a button it simply fills out all the registration forms for me.  I also force myself to ensure that my login information is stored in RoboForm once I complete the registration process.  Then, in the future, when I stumble back onto the site RoboForm lets my login with a single click.   I never have to remember if I have registered previously, and what my credentials were.

What else is there? 

    1.  Well it has a flexible password generator.  If you have have no idea what exactly constitutes a "complex" or "safe" password then you can use its tool.

   2.  It stores all data in DES, AES, 3DES, Blowfish, RC6 protected format, all with a single "master" password to unlock.

   3. It integrates with Internet Explorer and Firefox

   4. The Portable version runs on my pen drive (carry your passwords around with you)

   5.  You need to only remember your Master Password to gain access to all

   6.  The interface is somewhat customizable. Text labels, Icons only, Icons and text

   7. AutoFill options (with and without asking)

   8. Fill and Submit options

   9. AutoSave for new passwords at new sites.  It just knows what you need saved!

   10. Import/Export IE, Firefox, Outlook, Gator, - saved passwords, favorites, contacts, etc..

   11. Search tool bar (much like MSN's and Googles) for searching the web only

   12. Customizable hotkeys.

   13.  Automatic version checking, notification, and downloading...

   14. Customizable startup process (to show/hide the splash screen)

More Info

Reviews | Complete Feature set | Pass2Go (their portable version which I use) |

Lastly, you might want to consider GoodSync as well.  I have purchased this as well, great product for synchronizing your pen to your primary machine for a backup.  USB Thumb drives are somewhat unreliable and this tool has managed to save my but many times!

2 Comments

• ovalsquare said Friday, March 16, 2007 12:17:15 PM

  I concur. I can't imagine not using RoboForm - worth every penny.

• keypass_rocks~ said Saturday, March 17, 2007 12:39:18 PM

  try keypass from dolbysoft worth every penny!!