Have been an cyberspace user for more than 9 years, I hit 100’s
of logins and passwords to keep. I’m paranoid. I’m now even
more psycho after I joined YMMSS because I ingest online payment
systems on weekly basis if not daily.
I used to ingest Microsoft Excel to manage my user names, passwords,
and another entrance information, both online and offline.
Excel is not safe because there are programs to fissure countersign
protected Excel workbooks and I even cracked the spreadsheet and
VBA maker code countersign for digit of my old Excel financial
models I developed. Today I ease ingest Excel to accumulation some individualized
information but I only save the Excel enter on my added
PC that is not adjoining to Internet.
In my article \”6 Essential Steps to Protect Your Computer On the
Internet\”, I highly recommended the award winning RoboForm. Free
version of RoboForm (http://www.roboform.com) does become with
limitations much as 10 Passcards only. If you don’t poverty to buy
the Pro edition (costs $29.99 as of my writing), there is an
easy-to-use freeware (see below) you crapper download right now and
manage unlimited usernames and passwords.
Download freeware Password Safe from SourceForge.net – the Open
Source community.
Here are some enthusiastic features of Password Safe:
- No installation is required. Simply download and double click the
pwsafe.exe file.
- Easy portable. Just double and adhesive the EXE enter and .dat database
file to some disks. Be aware that when you unstoppered Password Safe in
the another disk, you need to specify the database enter positioning
(the .dat file).
- One officer countersign unlocks an entire countersign database that crapper
contain all your another passwords.
- Grouping. Usernames and passwords crapper be grouped into different
categories you define, eg. Email Address, Payment, etc. You are in
total control.
- Strong, haphazard countersign generation.
- Copy username and countersign to clipboard so that you don’t hit to
type them. Always ready in mind that you should never identify any
username and password.
- Browse to URL. With digit click, the address related to your username
and countersign crapper be unsealed in your default web browser. Another
save on typing.
- You crapper create more than digit countersign database (but you hit to
memorize more than digit officer password. Not recommended.)
Here are some tips of using Password Safe (version 2.04) and
managing countersign in general.
Tip #1 – Always create a brawny officer countersign (Safe Combination
as used in the software).
Strong countersign should meet the following criteria:
- At small 8 characters long to prevent cracking. The individual the better.
- The countersign should include lowercase, uppercase, numeric, and some
other characters that are acquirable on keyboard.
- Ideally you should not ingest some meaningful words or numbers in the
password. Totally haphazard countersign is the best.
Tip #2 – Let PasswordSafe generate haphazard countersign for you.
To generate haphazard password:
- Click the schedule component Edit.
- Select Add Entry (or ingest corresponding icon button).
- When the dialogue pane opens, on the right hand side, you crapper
see a Random Password Generate button. Click it, a haphazard countersign
will be automatically inserted in the Password field.
The generated haphazard countersign is constructed according to the countersign
policy defined in Password Safe. You crapper modify the default policy.
- Click the schedule component Manage.
- In the dropdown menu, click Options.
- Click the Password Policy tab.
- Change the policy based on the brawny countersign criteria stated above.
Some sites only allow alphanumeric passwords so make sure you select
the appropriate check boxes when this is the case.
Tip #3 – Very Important: Never identify your officer countersign when unstoppered
PasswordSafe.
Keylogger spyware crapper record keystrokes.
How crapper you enter officer countersign without typing? I do this.
Step 1: Open a Notepad enters (.txt).
Step 2: Copy and adhesive an article from some cyberspace website to
this .txt file.
Step 3: Select characters from this article and copy, adhesive to modify your
master password.
Tip #4 – Very Important: Never retrograde your officer password.
I memorize my officer password. In addition, I also physically indite it
down to a hand written think material that has my previous uni works.
Among the 1,000’s of words, I placed my 22 characters officer countersign
in digit different pages in encrypted content that crapper let me derive
my officer password.
Tip #5 – Categorize username and password.
When you add a new entry, you need to specify Group, Title,
Username, Password, and Notes. The entries that share the same Group
name module be concentrated together automatically.
One Group crapper include added Group as its change Group. For example,
I hit Email Address group which contains three sub-groups as
Friend, Work, Family.
Tip #6 – For security reasons, always ingest Copy Username to
Clipboard and Copy Password to Clipboard.
Remember, never identify username and countersign on a web form. This is how
to do it.
- Highlight an entry.
- Right click mouse.
- In the pop-up menu, select Copy Username to Clipboard or Copy Password
to Clipboard
- Go to your login form, adhesive the username or password.
You crapper ingest mouse to do double and paste. If you favour short-cut keys,
this is how.
Copy: Ctrl+C
Paste: Ctrl+V
Tip #7 – Use \”Browse to URL\” rather than typing address in browser address bar.
When you enter a new entry or edit an existing one, you crapper enter a address
(must start with http://) at the first line in the Notes field. You crapper save website login
page’s address in this field. When you need to unstoppered a login page in browser,
right click the entry and click Browse to address in the pop-up menu. Then
the login page module be unsealed in your default web browser automatically.
Tip #8 – Don’t forget to patronage your countersign database file.
Use the Make Backup schedule component to save a second double of your countersign file.
Tip #9 – Store your backups in a different offline machine or location.
This is a widely used patronage strategy.
Tip #10 – Use the Notes earth to accumulation as some aggregation as you want. Very handy for memo.
If you don’t hit digit computers, you need to ingest another hardware media
to save a second double of your patronage enter and edition them by date
(easy to track back). Other hardware media crapper be zip drive,
thumb drive, floppy disk, CD, etc.
Off site backups are also important. Don’t overlook this. You retrograde
all your data if you retrograde both your machine and your another
storage media all together for some reason.
Many companies provide online hardware services for a fee. You crapper
store some digital files (you should countersign protect these files
first) on their secure servers. Search Google and you module find a lot.
I hit digit computers. One is used to surf net and it does not hit some
sensitive content stored on it. Another digit is for my development work
(not adjoining to Internet) and it has my patronage files. I also accumulation
my backups in a thumb drive and CDs sometimes.