Have been an Internet user for more than 9 years, I have 100's of logins and passwords to keep. I'm paranoid. I'm now even more paranoid after I joined YMMSS because I use online payment systems on weekly basis if not daily.I used to use Microsoft Excel to manage my usernames, passwords, and other registration information, both online and offline. Excel is not safe because there are programs to crack password protected Excel workbooks and I even cracked
spreadsheet and VBA source code password for one of my old Excel financial models I developed. Today I still use Excel to store some personal information but I only save
Excel file on my another PC that is not connected to Internet.
In my article "6 Essential Steps to Protect Your Computer On
Internet", I highly recommended
award winning RoboForm. Free version of RoboForm (http://www.roboform.com) does come with limitations such as 10 Passcards only. If you don't want to buy
Pro version (costs $29.99 as of my writing), there is an easy-to-use freeware (see below) you can download right now and manage unlimited usernames and passwords.
Download freeware Password Safe from SourceForge.net -
Open Source community.
https://sourceforge.net/projects/passwordsafe/
Here are some great features of Password Safe:
- No installation is required. Simply download and double click
pwsafe.exe file.
- Easy portable. Just copy and paste
EXE file and .dat database file to any disks. Be aware that when you open Password Safe in
other disk, you need to specify
database file location (the .dat file).
- One master password unlocks an entire password database that can contain all your other passwords.
- Grouping. Usernames and passwords can be grouped into different categories you define, eg. Email Address, Payment, etc. You are in total control.
- Strong, random password generation.
- Copy username and password to clipboard so that you don't have to type them. Always keep in mind that you should never type any username and password.
- Browse to URL. With one click,
URL related to your username and password can be opened in your default web browser. Another save on typing.
- You can create more than one password database (but you have to memorize more than one master password. Not recommended.)
Here are some tips of using Password Safe (version 2.04) and managing password in general.
Tip #1 - Always create a strong master password (Safe Combination as used in
software).
Strong password should meet
following criteria:
- At least 8 characters long to prevent cracking. The longer
better.
- The password should contain lowercase, uppercase, numeric, and any other characters that are available on keyboard.
- Ideally you should not use any meaningful words or numbers in
password. Totally random password is
best.
Tip #2 - Let PasswordSafe generate random password for you.
To generate random password:
- Click
menu item Edit.
- Select Add Entry (or use corresponding icon button).
- When
dialogue window opens, on
right hand side, you can see a Random Password Generate button. Click it, a random password will be automatically inserted in
Password field.
The generated random password is constructed according to
password policy defined in Password Safe. You can modify
default policy.