RoboForm—Cool Password Manager
September 6th 2008 05:10 pm
If you’re like me, you have multiple websites that you log into. We have a few different bank accounts (business, personal savings, personal checking, online personal checking with a higher interest rate, and an old personal checking that I never bothered closing).
I also have multiple affiliate network accounts, credit card accounts, and then random sites like the library catalog, paypal, ebay, my mortgage company, phone, electric, not to mention my webhosts and blog admins.
Wow, I just counted how many links to some kind of login page I have on my home page. There are 53!
In the past, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used the same password for all of them. I know for security reasons, I should be using a different one for each. But 53 passwords is a lot to remember.
Aha! For Christmas, my dad gave us a subscription to Consumer Reports. A recent issue was all about online security, and through it I found there’s software that will manage all my passwords called RoboForm.
I also have multiple affiliate network accounts, credit card accounts, and then random sites like the library catalog, paypal, ebay, my mortgage company, phone, electric, not to mention my webhosts and blog admins.
Wow, I just counted how many links to some kind of login page I have on my home page. There are 53!
In the past, I’m embarrassed to say I’ve used the same password for all of them. I know for security reasons, I should be using a different one for each. But 53 passwords is a lot to remember.
Aha! For Christmas, my dad gave us a subscription to Consumer Reports. A recent issue was all about online security, and through it I found there’s software that will manage all my passwords called RoboForm.
It’s really cool! Every password and username is stored 100% securely in an encrypted file on your computer. And it has a feature called auto login.
You can set up a record for everything you log into, and then with a single click it will automatically go to that webpage and log in you in securely. Yup, your password is kept totally secure though encryption.
And this way you can use their password generator to come up with a random password for each site.
This software has been around for years. And it comes highly recommended:
The list goes on.
They make a free trial version (30 days only, limited number of websites) and a full-blown unlimited version for 29.95.
I started with the free trial.
When you run the software, it puts the RoboForm toolbar on your browser.
What to do then, I’ll admit, isn’t so intuitive. I tried to enter my own login record with url, username, and password but couldn’t find a way to do this. Then I looked at the tutorial. Turns out it’s a lot simplier—just navigate to any website and then log in. A popup comes up asking if you want to add it to your RoboForm records.
I also got a little screwed up from the password generator. The first thing I did was generate a random password, click on Copy to Clipboard, then changed my credit card account password to that. But I found that when I closed the password generator and tried to update my Roboform record with the new password, it was already gone from my clipboard. I guess Roboform cleared my clipboard for security reasons, but now I changed my password in my credit card account to something that I didn’t remember.
So here’s a tip: when you generate a new password, open Notepad or Textedit and paste it before you change it on any account. Don’t save the file; just use it for a temporary holding place until you’ve updated your RoboForm record for that account.
In addition to being a password manager, Roboform is also a web form fill-in program. This is similar to the autofill feature of the Google toolbar, but the difference is that the information RoboForm uses is stored 100% securely using encryption. This means you can feel safe to put your bank account number or credit card number in the data it uses when it does its autofill.
Another cool feature they have: RoboForm lets you save encrypted random notes. So even if you don’t have a website for logging in, you can create a note to yourself with your pin number or library card number, etc.
Oh, and if you’re worried that you won’t be able to log in if you have to use another computer, just use their feature to print out a report of all your passwords and then store it in a safe place away from your computer, like inside a book on a shelf. The latest word on security is that a piece of paper hidden in a safe spot in your home is very secure. After all, how many people break into your home to get your computer passwords? Not many.
I started with the free version, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to upgrade to the paid version soon. I also immediately became an affiliate for them. Ok, so now I have 54 places to log in. Definitely need the full-blow version.
I’m really excited about this product. Can you tell?
Here are a couple of links:
RoboForm free download.
RoboForm Pro.
Addendum: It’s now about two months later and I don’t know how I ever lived without this product. Not only can I easily use different passwords for all of my sites, but it also saves me time logging in. I just click one link and it goes to the page, fills in my username and password, and submits.
I still love it!
You can set up a record for everything you log into, and then with a single click it will automatically go to that webpage and log in you in securely. Yup, your password is kept totally secure though encryption.
And this way you can use their password generator to come up with a random password for each site.
This software has been around for years. And it comes highly recommended:
“Top 25 Products We Can’t Live Without”—PC World
“The Best of 2003 — Most Practical Program. I highly recommend it.”—CNET
“Best web enhancement.”—SIA People’s Choice Award
“RoboForm has long been a leader in the field of password management and form filling software.”—MorningStar Advisor
The list goes on.
They make a free trial version (30 days only, limited number of websites) and a full-blown unlimited version for 29.95.
I started with the free trial.
When you run the software, it puts the RoboForm toolbar on your browser.
What to do then, I’ll admit, isn’t so intuitive. I tried to enter my own login record with url, username, and password but couldn’t find a way to do this. Then I looked at the tutorial. Turns out it’s a lot simplier—just navigate to any website and then log in. A popup comes up asking if you want to add it to your RoboForm records.
I also got a little screwed up from the password generator. The first thing I did was generate a random password, click on Copy to Clipboard, then changed my credit card account password to that. But I found that when I closed the password generator and tried to update my Roboform record with the new password, it was already gone from my clipboard. I guess Roboform cleared my clipboard for security reasons, but now I changed my password in my credit card account to something that I didn’t remember.
So here’s a tip: when you generate a new password, open Notepad or Textedit and paste it before you change it on any account. Don’t save the file; just use it for a temporary holding place until you’ve updated your RoboForm record for that account.
In addition to being a password manager, Roboform is also a web form fill-in program. This is similar to the autofill feature of the Google toolbar, but the difference is that the information RoboForm uses is stored 100% securely using encryption. This means you can feel safe to put your bank account number or credit card number in the data it uses when it does its autofill.
Another cool feature they have: RoboForm lets you save encrypted random notes. So even if you don’t have a website for logging in, you can create a note to yourself with your pin number or library card number, etc.
Oh, and if you’re worried that you won’t be able to log in if you have to use another computer, just use their feature to print out a report of all your passwords and then store it in a safe place away from your computer, like inside a book on a shelf. The latest word on security is that a piece of paper hidden in a safe spot in your home is very secure. After all, how many people break into your home to get your computer passwords? Not many.
I started with the free version, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to upgrade to the paid version soon. I also immediately became an affiliate for them. Ok, so now I have 54 places to log in. Definitely need the full-blow version.
I’m really excited about this product. Can you tell?
Here are a couple of links:
RoboForm free download.
RoboForm Pro.
Addendum: It’s now about two months later and I don’t know how I ever lived without this product. Not only can I easily use different passwords for all of my sites, but it also saves me time logging in. I just click one link and it goes to the page, fills in my username and password, and submits.
I still love it!
RSS
