Password Frustration
Fred, I'm on my second year Plus! subscription and it's worth every penny!
I know there are many product on the market to automatically remember and fill web passwords. I've used RoboForm for several years now, both at work and home.
Do you know of a similar product that works with local applications? I have no less than a dozen applications at work which require me to input a password for each use. Each application has to have a unique password that must be changed every thirty days with a multitude of criteria for each password. Short of writing the passwords on a Post-It note attached to my monitor, do you know a better way to wrangle the passwords? Thanks, Mark
I have a few apps like that. Depending on how the software presents its password dialog, various password-fillers may or may not be able to see the dialog and fill it in. (It sounds like Roboform isn't seeing most of yours.)
First, a small digression: Local app security often can be broken in a variety of ways, and once someone has open access to your PC, it's only a matter of time before most normal application passwording can be bypassed. There are many cracking tools to bypass Office document or spreadsheet passwords, for example, so the first line of defense is to keep unauthorized people away from and out of your PC.
If you really need local document-level security, you might consider something more robust than the password tools built into various apps. For example, you might elect to encrypt particular files, or whole folder trees, with a high-quality encryption tool. (See 'Easy Encryption:" http://www.informationweek.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10100525 ) That's not only more secure than most application passwording, but also can let you use one password to lock and unlock a large number of files.
That still won't work for some things. One example: Website-editing/management software may require a login and password via the local app or utility, which then uses that to access a remote site.
For software like that, I use Roboform's "Safenotes," which are freeform, plain-text files encrypted by and kept track of by Roboform. I'll use the Roboform password-generator to create a new password when needed, and then store it in a Safenote. I can open a Safenote via Roboform's single master password, and then leave the Safenote open on my desktop so I can copy/paste passwords as needed from the Safenote to the various dialogs. Roboform can be set up to close and lock any open Safenotes after a specified time interval, or when (say) the PC's screensaver kicks in. This way, the Safenote is open and easily accessible when needed, but can either be shut manually, or will auto-shut itself, when it's not being used.
Other tools have similar functions. While nothing can make juggling many different passwords completely simple, they can at least help. <g>
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