Manage your passwords on the Internet

A: Let me start by congratulating you. Based on the wording of your question, it sounds like you are using different passwords for all of the web sites you visit on the Internet. That’s a good thing. But as you have realized, using a different password for every web site can quickly become a nightmare.

Luckily, there are a couple of really good solutions available to help you out, none of which require buying more sticky notes and pens to record your passwords and stick them to your monitor.

The first is a commercial software application called RoboForm. With RoboForm you record all of your user names and passwords in one place. RoboForm encrypts all of the information you enter and only makes you remember one master password. That way if your computer is ever stolen, chances are good that the thief will not be able to read any of your user names and passwords.

Another nice feature of RoboForm is that it can log you into websites automatically. It can also generate passwords for you so you can stop using your dog’s name, your birthday or your child’s name for your password. Instead, it can create a password such as D7BzaZsVtxGuPHyJDK9E.

Now before you faint wondering how you are going to remember that password, keep in mind that you don’t have to remember it. You just need to remember your master password and RoboForm takes care of the rest.

Also, if you are wondering how you could ever log in to a web site while you are away from your house, RoboForm allows you to transfer your information to a USB key for easy portability.

RoboForm will set you back around $30. If that is $30 too much for you, you might want to consider an open-source (a.k.a. free) solution called KeePass. It has many of the same features as RoboForm and you sure can’t beat the price.

If you are interested in either of these products, I have placed links to them on the Noobie web site. Just visit http://www.noobie.com/ and look for the Downloads link under the green list of Resources near the top left of the page.

This post was originally broadcast Friday, September 21, 2007 on Tech Talk with Noobie, a weekly radio show on WCBK 102.3 FM in Martinsville, Indiana. Tech Talk with Noobie airs every Friday between 11:30 a.m. and noon. If you have a question you would like Noobie to answer on the air, simply e-mail your question to .