KeePass Password Manager
Description:
KeePass is a free password manager which secures your passwords in a virtual vault, leaving you only one password to remember. Store the program and data on a USB flash drive and take it with you!
Compatibility:
Windows PC running Vista, XP, 2003, 2000 or 98
keepass
Password Managers: My picks
I've been using one password manager or another for at least 10-12 years, and periodically I review what's out there. A few years ago, I zeroed in on one called Access Manager, which is quite good, and which I continue to use. I recently took another close look at the current crop, and I've decided that KeePass is currently the best of the bunch. (There is a very good listing of all the best ones on the Snapfiles site, here.)
The feature of Access Manager that will probably keep me from changing, at least for the time being, is that my wife and I share access to it across our home network. We can have both private and shared records in the database, so for example we can share our credit card info, without having to share, say, internet messenger login info. And it only takes one of us to remember to bring the password manager along when we travel.
Which brings me to one of the things I like about KeePass that Access Manager doesn't have: KeePass and its database can be used portably, without being installed on the computer, without the .NET framework, or any special requirements of the computer except that it run some version of Windows (or Unix). So you can put everything on a USB flash drive and happily access your internet accounts at home, at work, or on the road with a friend's computer.
One value of this was brought home to me by a friend, who isn't allowed to install anything at all on his computer at work, and has to resort to low-tech ways of storing his corporate passwords and other passwords he might want to use while he's there.
KeePass even has an add-on utility that will convert my Access Manager database into a form that KeePass will read. It would certainly be nice if one of you database gurus could hack into the open source code of KeePass and add the multi-user piece for me...
PassPack goes on the list, too...
I wrote 'my picks' before discovering and writing a Mainstream Guide about PassPack, which has essentially the same virtues, but is packaged as an online service:
Another good one that can
Not free, though....
This one costs $19.95. To date, I haven't bothered to review any password managers that you have to pay for, just because there are so many good ones that are free. As I have mentioned elsewhere, I use the 'pro' version of Access Manager, which differs from its free version primarily by being multi-user. My wife and I can share passwords over our home network. In this scheme, there are hers, mine, and ours passwords, and that works out very well for us.
James, if you come around again, could you mention any compelling features of Password Memory 2008 that might convince me that it's better than the available free programs -- particularly those reviewed here? At a glance, I didn't see any.
The company does have an interesting history...
Why you need a password manager AND strong passwords
I just ran across this, which is pretty compelling:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2007/01/choosing_secure.html
Getting your Firefox passwords into KeePass
There's a great explanation for getting your Firefox passwords into KeePass here:
http://lifehacker.com/software/keepass/how-to-import-saved-firefox-passw...