Number 288 - May 2007

Keeping Track of Multiple Passwords
by S. Jack Lewtschuk (blacklion@royal.net), Monterey Bay Users' Group (www.mbug.com)
Passwords are a part of our everyday life: we use them for e-mail, online banking, stock trading, shopping, blogging, etc. For good security, you should have a different password for each website you enter. But how can you remember so many passwords?    A password manager is a great way to consolidate all your passwords without compromising security .A password manager is a program that stores all of your passwords for you. All your passwords are kept secure with--you guessed it--a password. The key advantage to using a password manager is that you only have to remember one password. That' s not too bad. Then you can retain unique passwords for each of your various accounts without taxing your memory .    There are several pay programs that work this way. Before buying one, try KeePass (http://keepass.sourceforge.net/), a simple,free password manager. It can help you organize your passwords and also enter them into log-in forms. How does KeePass work? After you download and install it, there are several easy steps to setting it up. The first time you open it, you have to create the file that will store your passwords. Click the "New" button at the top left of the window which will prompt you for a "Master Key." Make it one that you can easily remember, but which someone else can't easily guess (e.g., your birth date, your spouse/child's/pet's name), because it's the password you'll use ftom now on to unlock all your other passwords.    KeePass includes categories for online functions such as e-mail, home banking and others. To put a password into KeePass, select a category and then click the " Add Entry" button. You 'll be	able to enter a title for the password, which will help you easily identify where the password is used.    Let's take Hotmail as an example -an effective title for a Hotmail password could be simply "Hotmail." you could also enter the web address where the password is required. KeePass automatically fills the password box with a random password. Chances are that it's stronger than the password you already use for Hotmail, but to make it work, you have to log into your account and change it to match KeePass.    If you want to keep things simple, erase the pre-filled box and put in the password that you already use and click "OK". Do the same steps for all of your everyday passwords and take a load off your memory. You can drag and drop passwords directly ftom KeePass. Click the password you need from KeePass and move it to the blank form on a Web page. The password will appear in the blank. KeePass keeps your entire password file encrypted. The only way to open or read it is with your master password, so don't lose it!    In addition to Windows, "switch-hitters" can download versions of KeePass for Macintosh, Pocket PC, Palm and Linux. You can also take KeePass with you on a thumb drive by copying two files onto your thumb drive. One is the KeePass program (KeePass.exe), and the other is the file containing your passwords (the default is called Database.kdb)
Number 288 - May 2007