Opti

Might I ask what you use for your Username and Password management? Have you got anything good?

I realy do think there's a massive market for this kind of thing. But there is a fair bit of competition out there, so such a program does have to be really convenient and easy to use. And of course, it does have to be very secure.

I've just opened an account with Citibank. To access your account the Password facility on Password Keychain won't work. Only the Username facility works.

Citibank make you click/select type your Password digits by selecting them one by one from a pop-up keyboard window. And then, having got past that, they hit you with a requirement to type in the answer to one of five peculiar questions. These latter can be originally chosen from a list of about ten such questions. They can be deleted and re-chosen by the user later and quite regularly.

All of this is very secure, of course, but it is awkward, prone to the user making errors with the digit selecting, and I bet it will have a 'three strikes and you're out' thingy as well.

And so, Citibank apart, there is a strong requirement for a user to store usernames and passwords securely and in such a way that they can be used quickly and securely. There needs to be a nil requirement too, for the user not to have to write anything whatsoever of his/her stuff down on bits of paper.

I don't trust any password management software as in order to insert the passwords, the system has to have access to the program.

Choose your favourite plain text editor, encrypt the file using at least 256 bit encryption and then copy and paste the passwords. If you want to be really secure then copy and paste half the password at a time.

The 'CTRL+ALT+U' and the 'CTRL+ALT+P' merely put the Username or Password through the Windows Clipboard onto the web site's pertinent 'box'.

Surely, if the 'system' (I'm not exactly sure what you mean by this term) does have access, then it only has access via the clipboard and it only has access to one thing at a time.

If you mean that by opening the PK program with its own secure password, then that makes PK vulnerable to whatever else in on the system (eg, a trojan) then all such programs are a complete waste of time.

We all of us have to go one step at a time. We stop trojans with our antiv-virus software. And so we assume, providing all that is in place to a good degree of recent upgrading and housekeeping, that our machine's are free of such trojans.

So where are the 'trojans' that you say might well be on the system?

Everything we do has an additive effect. The AV program cuts the odds down to, say 1%, that a trojan will be on the system. The Password Manager program is secure in its own right so down we probably go to 1% of the previous 1%. Finally the web site concerned has its own security system in place. So we have a 1% of 1% of 1% chance that we will have an insecurity action.

I harken to what you say about 256 bit encryption. But surely, all that stuff you are recommending is just too secure? It's so secure admittedly (obviously) but it's surely too inconvenient to use?

And also...once the text editor has bben opened, although there would undoubtedly be a few spaces between the 'half passwords', everything would need to be arranged in some sort of logical order so the user can find it. So at this stage, it's surely just as vulnerable in open program form, as a password manager program would be. Isn't it?

(Posted with all due respect to your greater knowledge than mine, of course) ;-)

Ideally I want something that helps me keep my 150 usernames and passwords, has a few tools like a backup facility and a restore facility and also a password generator. It needs to be fairly portable, help my logging on to be easy and simple, be very secure, and also possible to take a few notes.

"Ideally I want something that helps me keep my 150 usernames and passwords, has a few tools like a backup facility and a restore facility and also a password generator. It needs to be fairly portable, help my logging on to be easy and simple, be very secure, and also possible to take a few notes."

Sounds like you need a secretary, Doc. One of my girlfriends is out of work at the moment .......



I can't vouch for her typing, I'm afraid.

Exec

You may well be right, but for me, I have a choice of keeping it simple or hoping that a password package has not got any vulnerabilities that I don't know about.

For any important passwords I prefer to have the inconvenience of my simple system rather than trust them to an unknown even though I'm not aware of any identity theft by that route.

For less important passwords I'm quite happy to let IE remember them when the site allows.

It's blatantly obvious she just can't see the blinking keyboard, Hils. And neither would I be able to with her in the room. :-)

But it's a good suggestion, all the same.

Thinks... I wonder if they are soft or hard?

By the way, I once interviewed a young lady for a job and she had a big bust. But my god, was she boring? Not half! So I started reading the front page of the newspaper, which happened to be on my desk.

"Surprise me," I asked her, nonchalantly.

So she set fire to the newspaper.

"Thinks... I wonder if they are soft or hard?"

Plastic is the word you're looking for!

Do you mean they are not real.

I hope she can touch-type because she certainly won't be able to see the keyboard.

I happen to know somebody who runs an opticians shop if you think she needs her eyes testing, DelBoy.

Hmmm? Does anyone know if a product called 1Password works OK with Windows XP?

It seems to have been designed for Mac and iPod users. But it does look to be very good and it fills all my needs - if it actually works on Windows XP.

I ask, because it hardly mentions Windows on the 1Password web site where there is loads of support, screenshots, videos, student licences, indeed 'you name it', and also tons and tons of excellent reviews.

I installed a WinXP update on Saturday and now when I connect my iphone to my PC it is not launching itunes and charging the iphone. Anyone else?

Edit
rebooted PC and ok now

Check out Lunascape, which is a new and Free 'Triple Engine Browser' - and also get a download link to it here:

http://www.lunascape.tv/

You can set Lunascape up quickly to work in any of three modes or styles (engines) of use:

1. Like IE (Trident)
2. Like Mozilla Firefox (Gecko)
3. Like Google Chrome or Apple Safari (Webkit)

A few hundred posts back, I asked for advice re a laptop, as I was embarking on an extended trip to south amarica.
Readers may like to know that it's easy enough to buy a dongle for a permanent internet connection using the local mobile companies. In Colombia I used Comcel, which had good reception where ever I went, including quite remote areas. Basically if your mobile has got a signal then the dongle will too. In Argentina I used Claro, but have heard that Personal offer a better all round service. Used Personal the last time I was there with no problems.
Typically a dongle costs circa 45 you then pay for usage, about 1 to 1.50 a day.
Hope this helps

Strange goings-on when I attempted to start my computer this morning. Windows wouldn't open. The process seemed to be going round in a loop with the screen getting as far as the DEL and F9 Dos screen, then shutting down and then doing the same again. Switching everything off and starting again did no good so I switched off and went for breakfast. On re-start everything worked OK. But why? Any ideas please guys? Same thing happened previously about two weeks ago. What's going on? Something wearing out? Help, please.

TOK

I suspect that something is overheating somewhere.

Check the CPU fan -unlikely IMO in this instance but easy to check.

Reseat the memory chips just in case.

I've also known similar problems caused by printers etc connected to the machine stopping it booting. Removing the devices during boot solved the problem but it was really a U/S motherboard.

A shot to nothing is to replace the BIOS battery.

Thanks Opti. I'll do some checks

I have been wanting to find some software that would tell me about any unusually large folders lurking in my Vista system and backups.

I do a lot of photography and some of my software builds up caches in most improbably places. Even when I find and delete them my Replicator back up is set not to delete files on my backup disks (so I can recover files I accidentally delete myself).

I have found this software .

It does what I want - and is also quite pretty!

Oh, and it's just found me 8 gig.

TP

Thanks for that link TP

On a similar line, check out Free tools from JGoodies. It seems that they have not been updated for a while, but they are fast, very pretty and integrate into Windows Explorer.