Password Manager
If you are anything like me you will have lots of different user accounts and passwords for lots of different purposes. As a website developer my problem is probably worse than the average internet user, as I can have multiple different username/password combination pairs for a single website (Control Panel, FTP, database, CMS, etc…).
In the past I have tended to set a complex base password and use a variation of that for various accounts. This is fine and works well for a hand full of accounts. But, once your account numbers increase this becomes almost impossible to remember. Especially for those account which you only access occasionally.
You could write your passwords down or keep a spreadsheet of them. Although, this really defeats the purpose as neither method is particularly secure. What I have found that works well for me is to keep all my accounts (except my financial ones) in a password manager. Using a single strong password I can secure all my accounts.
There are lots of password manager programs available, but the one I am currently using is KeePass Password Safe which creates and encrypted database of all your passwords. The great thing is that the database file is small and can easily be carried securely on a memory stick or other portable storage device and used on other computers when you are away from home, or work.
If you are using Portable Apps then you can easily carry the application as well as the database with you. For that matter, you can use the application from any portable device without the need to install.
KeePass Password Safe is an Open Source application that employs some of the most powerful encryption techniques currently known (AES and Twofish).
So, don’t forget your master password or you will loose the lot!
