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| A Place For Your Passwords |
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Software Reviews July 2001 • Vol.12 Issue 7 Page(s) 19-21 in print issue |
A Place For Your Passwords Generate & Manage The Words That Protect You | ||
 These days, you need a password to access just about everything. Many Web sites require you to choose a password and username when signing up or registering for services and information, for example. Businesses often require employees to log onto company networks with a password. Some users also password-protect programs on their systems to keep prying eyes from financial data or other private information. Using a password management program, you can reduce the number of passwords you'll need to remember to only one. You can also keep track of and access all of your other passwords and generate extremely complex passwords to effectively secure your data or network access. In the following paragraphs, we'll review some of the most popular password management applications and compare the features and options for each. We'll then choose one program as our Smart Choice, the best in the roundup.  How We Tested We downloaded four password management programs from the manufacturers' Web sites using a 56Kbps (kilobits per second) modem. Each file ranged in size from 172KB to 1.90MB and downloaded quickly as zip files. We then used WinZip to unzip each file, and we installed the programs on an IBM PC with a 450MHz Pentium II chip and 128MB of RAM, running Windows 98 Second Edition. After installing the programs, we tested each application for its ease of use and checked out the various management and security features of each. We also took into account an application's price compared to other programs in the roundup.  Password Keeper 2000 6.0 $20 Software Design (414) 817-6508 http://www.gregorybraun.com Password Keeper 2000 has some cool options that let you track users' online behavior and generate hard-to-crack passwords, though it lacks overall security features and versatility. Once you've generated passwords, you can fill out a form included with the program so you can easily paste your address and credit card information into Web site form fields. After installing the program, create your first password file, which is a password-protected database that stores all or only some of your passwords. Click the New icon in the toolbar at the top of the program's main window, name your file, and click Save. The program prompts you to create a password for the database, and this is the only password you'll have to remember to access the information in the file. The programs here are similarly configured. Once you create a password for your database, that's the only password you'll ever again have to memorize. Now, open your new password file and click the Create icon in the main window's toolbar. The program will launch a wizard for creating password accounts for each of the usernames and passwords that you use. Each account is then displayed by itself in the main window. Headings in that window let you quickly view each account's name, the username associated with the password, the password itself, and a Web site, if any, associated with the passwords and usernames. You can click the Internet icon next to the Web site field to launch your browser and access that site, a timesaving feature that we liked and did not find with all of the programs in this roundup. You can also use Password Keeper's handy options to adjust settings for the passwords the program generates for you. In addition, you can tinker with the length (up to 45 characters) and decide if you want to include numeric characters, uppercase and lowercase letters, and other symbols. You won't have to worry about remembering such a long password because you can cut and paste the password from Password Keeper to an application or to a field on a Web page. You can even set time limits before the program will clear data you copy in the Windows Clipboard. You can see a list of the files that you have recently opened and where the files reside on your computer. Password Keeper sorts your password accounts by name, password, and account name. We particularly liked the User Information form, accessible from the View menu, which let us fill in our address, name, and credit card information so we could then cut and paste it into online forms. The program will even keep track of the password-associated sites accessed with Password Keeper. This information, listing the sites visited, the username of the person who visited the sites, and the time the sites were visited, is stored in the Passkeep.log file. Anyone who wants to see a list of a Password Keeper user's online activity can then view this list through Windows Notepad. The $20 Password Keeper 2000 6.0 is one of the easiest programs in our roundup to learn and use, and we liked the program's logging, form-filling, and password-generating options. However, for the price, the application disappoints with its lack of password management versatility or security options compared to other programs in this review.   Passwords Plus 3.41 $12 Author Direct Shareware (306) 789-4328 http://www.passwordsplus.com You get a lot for your money with Passwords Plus 3.41. You can print password lists, create 128-character passwords, and automatically send passwords and usernames to Web sites and programs that require them, although you won't find many programs that accept passwords that long. You can also encrypt documents. However, a confusing interface can make managing passwords in this program more difficult that it should be. After installing and launching the program, you'll see a busy, crowded main screen with a sample password list with numerous headings, such as Category, URL, Name, Date, and Expired. Sorting tabs above let you sort the list according to the various headings, and several buttons below let you send information in each heading to the Clipboard so you can easily paste and copy the data into a document or field on a Web page. Keeping track of this data in the main window is somewhat daunting and unintuitive. In addition, we didn't like the fact that we had to manually change the default user setting from the sample list to our own entry. The process was not complicated, but it was just one more obstacle. Fortunately, Passwords Plus has redeeming features. Using the New Password Account wizard, for example, you can create new passwords and associate URLs (uniform resource locators) so you can quickly launch a program from your Password Plus file and enter your password and username into the online fields. The program creates passwords with up to 128 characters, including numbers, letters, and symbols; by far the strongest password-generating capability of any program in our head-to-head review. You can then cut and paste these long passwords into a program or Web site's password field, or you can set up the program to automatically send username and password information to Web sites or password-protected applications. You can set expiration dates for your passwords and set time limits before deleting the contents of the Clipboard or closing Passwords Plus. In addition, you can print reports listing all of your passwords, associated URLs, usernames, and more. What really sets Passwords Plus apart, though, is its 56-bit to 320-bit encryption options; you can use its proprietary encryption program or Blowfish, Triple DES, or DES, among others, for documents. You can encrypt folders and documents from any program on your Desktop to keep other people from accessing the data. The program saves the newly encrypted file with an .ENC extension, and you can only decrypt it through Passwords Plus, using the proper password. Numerous security and management features, combined with a low price, make the $12 Passwords Plus 3.41 program an application that's hard to beat. Although the interface is rather unintuitive and hard to use initially, the program has the security features you need to keep your passwords and data safe from prying eyes.  Password Safe 1.7.1 Free Counterpane Labs (888) 710-8175; (408) 777-3600 http://www.counterpane.com/labs.html Password Safe 1.7.1 doesn't have as many options as the other programs in this roundup, but the price is right if you want a no-frills, freeware program to securely store passwords. Launch the program and you'll be prompted to create and verify a password for the file that the program creates as a database for your passwords. Password Safe saves the file as a .DAT file. Next, you'll see the Password Safe main window. A simple toolbar across the top gives you options for creating and editing passwords or copying passwords and usernames to the Windows Clipboard, which clears when you close the application. To add a password, click the plus sign (+) on the toolbar. In the Add Entry window, choose a password title, username, and password. Type notes about the password that you want for the entry, too, such as password for online bank account. Click the Generate Random Password button to have Password Safe create an eight-character password using uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. To generate passwords, Password Safe uses the Blowfish Encryption Algorithm, a popular, open-source, 32-bit to 448-bit variable key-length encryption technology used in more than 130 password and encryption programs. When you've added your password, click OK; the title appears in a list with your other passwords in the main window. You can change the password for your password database, back up your databases, clear the Clipboard (or password-protect the program when you minimize the application's main window), and choose a username. You probably won't need assistance navigating Password Safe's self-explanatory interface. If you do, you may have problems accessing the Help guide. The program doesn't automatically install it in the appropriate folder. Drag and drop the Help file from your Unzip Files folder into the C:\WINDOWS \TEMP folder; don't delete it when purging your Temp folder. You may want to drag and drop the Password Safe.exe file onto your Desktop; the application doesn't automatically install shortcuts. Despite these inconveniences, Password Safe 1.7.1 is a simple password management program to use—and it's free. We would like to see more password generating options in the application, as well as a feature to let us assign URLs to passwords. As it is, you have to type the URL in the Notes section for any passwords associated with Web sites. Still, all the basic amenities are here to keep your password lists safe, secure, and manageable.  Password Tracker Deluxe 3.61 $25 Roth And Cannalte Software (847) 669-0780 http://www.clrpc.com Password Tracker Deluxe 3.61 effectively combines an easy-to-use interface that's simple to learn and navigate with helpful wizards, versatile options, and a few cool features. However, it's also the most expensive password management program in this roundup. Various program wizards guide you through creating passwords and files in which to store them. You even have the option of choosing not to password-protect your database list. Although this means that anyone can access your database, it also means that you won't have to remember a single password to manage your lists if you don't want to, a choice that users with sole access to their computers may decide to make. Once you've created your database, another wizard creates the file, or P-Track (as it's called in the program), for your first password. Through these wizards, even beginners can designate P-Tracks to launch programs or visit Web sites and enter the necessary usernames and passwords. Highlight the P-Track, which is listed in the program's main window, and click Send. You can also set expiration dates for the passwords and generate passwords with six to 20 characters, using uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. For security, we liked the fact that Password Tracker Deluxe requires you to retype your database's password to edit every entry in it. Although the entry titles appear in a list in the program's window, anyone trying to access or view the details of the password file must first enter the database password. In this way, no one can view or edit files in an open, password-protected database if you forget to close the program. At $25, Password Tracker Deluxe 3.61 costs more and has fewer features than the other programs in the roundup. However, we liked its clean interface, wizards, and its ability to automatically send passwords and usernames to Web sites. The 20-character password generating option and password-retyping feature for open databases help keep your data secure from outsiders. Password Tracker is one of the better password management programs and a good application for beginners and experienced users alike. The Right Password Each program in this review is a winner, whether for a user-friendly interface, low price, or cool extras. However, only one can win our Smart Choice award, and that prize goes to Passwords Plus 3.41. With its combination of versatility, handy options, and reasonable price, Passwords Plus rises above the others.  by Lori Robison
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