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Passwords are the most critical safeguard for your online identity, but you end up juggling dozens or compromising your security by using the same string for everything from your favorite news outlet to your online banking site. Or worse, faced with the fear of forgetting a critical password, you end posting the keys to your online well-being all over your monitor on sticky notes—not a secure password management strategy.

Let Password Profiler strip the little stickies off. Our latest PC Magazine premium utility will manage your passwords efficiently, easily, and securely, safely storing your log-ons, passwords, pin numbers, and other sensitive information in an encrypted file, and even letting you access and log on to your favorite Web sites with a single click. The utility can even fill in Web forms with any data you choose, including address and credit card information, if you desire.

Once you've downloaded Password Profiler from the PC Magazine Utility Library to a folder on your Windows 2000 or XP machine, unzip the file PasswordProSetup.zip and double-click on PasswordProfilerSetup.exe.

When you first launch Password Profiler, it will prompt you to create your Master Key—the password that, from this point on, will allow you access to the entire utility and all the information stored within it, including other passwords. Don't lose your Master Key! Without it, you cannot access information in the utility.

Note that we did not build in a method for you to regain your Master Key should you forget it, because such a capability would create a security hole an interloper could exploit. We strongly recommend that, when creating your Master Key, you use the helpful Hint option to enter a word or phrase to jog your memory should you forget your Master Key.

When setting up the utility, security junkies can pick which Crypto Service Provider and Encryption algorithm to use. Password Profiler lets you chose from the native cryptographic service libraries built into Windows (which you can read about in Microsoft's MSDN Library). For most users, though, staying with the utility's default selections is the best course.

Manage Passwords and Automate Log-On Sequences

Once you've set your Master Key, the Create Your Master Key window will disappear, replaced by the UserID/Password Manager window, where you can create, edit, and delete the profiles or sequences you use to log on to sites (or for other purposes). A profile can include any information—such as your user name, password and pin, the log-on URL, and more—required for a particular purpose. A profile may correspond to a specific Web site, but it doesn't have to. You can keep any personal information in Password Profiler that you wish. Examples we use in this article, however, will show how to create profiles for use with Web sites.

To add a Web site profile, click on the New button. The Add New Web Site Profile dialog will pop up. This is where you enter any information that the corresponding Web site requires for you to log on. You can also categorize the site profiles using the Category pull-down menu. To enter a new category, just type in the Category: text box. You do not need to hit enter. Completing any of the other fields and hitting OK records the new category automatically.

Filling Out a Web Site Profile

Site Name can be anything you wish; it lets you identify the site profile once you've stored it in the utility. URL should be the address of the log-on page for the Web site you're profiling. Sometimes the URL of the homepage will work, but the typical sign-in page URL is usually different. In the case of PC Magazine, for example, the log-on page URL isn't http://www.pcmag.com, but http://www.pcmag.com/sign_up/0,3017,,00.asp?success_page=/default/0,1007,,00.asp. The best strategy for obtaining the correct address is to navigate to the sign-in page of the site, copy the URL from the browser, and paste it into Password Profiler.

Enter your Web site user name in the User ID field, and of course, your password into the Password field. Reenter your password into the Repeat Password text box to insure that you haven't typed incorrectly, since the actual characters don't display. The Pin # field gives you a place to enter a personal identification number for Web sites that require one, and the Misc text box lets you add one other piece of unspecified data a site may demand. In the Comments area, you can make any notes you may wish to keep.

# posted by Medical Information : 11:53 PM