Password Safe

[pne]

I've recently started using Password Safe (originally by Bruce Schneier) to keep track of some of my passwords… and also to generate some new passwords.

Part of what triggered this was seeing that somebody had scribbled in my Blurty (two entries which I've since deleted).

Having the same password in multiple places is convenient but insecure; choosing different passwords for lots of places is hard to remember. Password Safe makes it easier by generating random passwords for new places and remembering them in one place.

The disadvantage is that I need to have Password Safe around (and keep it synchronised between home and work), or else I have no hope of remembering the passwords.

Thankfully, it seems that there's a version out for Pocket PC… the project page says it needs Pocket PC 2000, but perhaps it'll also work with what I have (3.0?). So then I can carry the passwords around with me.

Have to see how things work out in practice.

Comments

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

Ooh, sounds interesting! I tend to use slight variations on the same password for everywhere, as my memory is shocking!

[pne.livejournal.com]

Same... I could probably handle, say, five or so different passwords (and my shell accounts do indeed have different passwords since they were assigned to me, and I can remember those), but if everybody and their dog want a password, I can't remember good passwords for all of them and generally end up using similar ones.

It does have the advantage that if you go to a web site you haven't visited in a year or so, I can generally remember the password if I tend to pick the same one everywhere :p

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

a year or so? If I've not visited in the past week, it's a case of try a oouple of likely possibilities then head to "lost password":P

[uon.livejournal.com]

Have to see how things work out in practice.

I've been using STRIP (http://www.zetetic.net/products.html) on my Palm for the last couple of years: it's been very useful for remembering passwords for machines or sites I hardly ever log in to, and also for keeping other details handy.
It's particularly good for the situation where you move into a new office and suddenly have to remember > (7±2) access and alarm codes, all of which are numeric and none of which are changeable.

STRIP

[pne.livejournal.com]

Sounds good, but I don't have a Palm machine.

I'll have to see whether Password Safe works on my PDA and whether it'll be similarly useful to what you describe.

[bride.livejournal.com]

I have a text file with all my user IDs, passwords, PINs and I zip it with a password. I just have to remember that one password that I zipped it with =)

I still prefer to have a little more control over my own info. I'll never use the "remember my password" options on any browser that offers. If I keep having to type it in myself, it forces me to remember at least the most important/commonly used ones. If it's automated, I'll forget, then one day I'll be on a different machine, the cookie will get wiped, I need to start from scratch, or whatever and I'll be hooped.

This is the same reason I won't use Quicken or any other accounting software. I made a spreadsheet, formulae'ed up the wazoo for my own stuff.

New Version:)

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

I noticed on the SourceForge RSS feed that there's a new version of this software - not sure if you still use it, but thought you might be interested just the same...
http://www.livejournal.com/users/sourceforgefrnt/26450.html

Re: New Version:)

[pne.livejournal.com]

I do still use it, and am subscribed to the -announce mailing list, so I got the notice already. (I probably shan't upgrade just now since the Pocket PC developer already sent me a byte-order fixed version, and the other things don't seem to be a big deal.)

Thanks for telling me, though!

Re: New Version:)

[nik-w.livejournal.com]

No probs:)