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1stwebdesigner


Best Password Management Softwares for Free

Posted: 20 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT

Remembering passwords, without a doubt, is one of the most difficult tasks. Passwords are the key to every valuable service you use on the web and they cannot be compromised. Forgetting your passwords result in time consuming retrieval, because you have to go through all the verification processes to get your password back. Of course, every problem has a solution. In this roundup we will share some of the best free password management software that you can use to store your passwords securely.

1. LastPass

A Quick Look:

  • Price: Free + Premium
  • Automatic Form Filling
  • Save Secure Notes
  • Available for almost every platform, browsers and mobile devices

Since 2008, LastPass have taken the process of securing and managing passwords to the next level.  You just have to remember only one password (that of LastPass) and LastPass will remember all the passwords of every website or service you use. You will be provided with a LastPass Vault, in which you can store all of your passwords. Using LastPass is very simple, suppose that you want to save a new password in your vault, you don't have to login to LastPass Vault and create a new password field, you just need to visit that specific website and login with you Username and Password, LastPass will automatically ask you whether you want to store the login information or not.

LastPass encrypts your sensitive information on your PC and only the Master Password can unlock it. LastPass has taken major steps to eliminate hacking and key logging risks with services like Automatic Password Generator, Virtual Keyboard facility and a One Click Login feature. It also supports features like sharing passwords with your friends without risk of phishing, importing/exporting your data,  backing up and restoring it. You can access your data from anywhere in the world, you just need to have internet access. You get all of these features for FREE.

Moving on to LastPass Premium, one thing I love about LastPass is their very cheap and affordable Premium Plan. It costs only 1$ per month (billed annually) and you get LastPass applications for your iPhone, Blackberry, Android and all other mobile devices with a leading OS. All the features remain the same in the premium plan as they are in the free package, but you get an Ad-Free experience and an awesome application for your mobile devices. I personally use LastPass, so I strongly recommend it.

2. KeePass

A Quick Look:

  • No need to install
  • Offline password manager
  • Can run from USB and other portable drive
  • No browser integration

Keepass is a very small, free and OSI (Open Source Initiative) certified offline password manager. First thing you will need to do after the installation is to create a database and Composite Master Key (CMK), the CMK is the only password you will need to remember. However, if you forget your CMK, you can use a key file and a Windows user account to access your Keepass database. Key files can be created by Keepass and should be stored securely. If they get misplaced then the Keepass database and all the stored data will be gone. Just be careful while securing your key files.

KeePass offers a very secure Advance Encryption Standard (AES) and Twofish algorithm to encrypt it’s password database. It supports Multiple User Keys; only one master password decrypts the complete database. You can export your data to TXT, HTML, XML and CSV files and can import from many file formats. You can get these and many other small, but useful, features for free.

3. 1Password

Quick Look:

  • Cross Platform Browser Integration
  • Available for Windows, Mac, iPhone, iPad and Android.
  • Professional Looking Interface.

1Password enables you to securely fill your username and password in a login form with only a few keystrokes and a single click. You can also create your identities, which can help you in filling web forms rapidly, for example; you can store multiple credit cards to simplify and speed up your online shopping for filling checkout forms with ease.

Mobile versions of 1Password are available for iOS and Android devices so that you can take your information with you. 1Password makes synchronization between your devices easy as you can use Dropbox for this purpose. Dropbox will create a folder on your computer; you just need to simply move your 1Password database to your Dropbox folder; which will be accessible from all the devices supporting Dropbox functionality. 1Password is free for 30 days and after that you can buy it for 29.95$.

4. RoboForm

A Quick Look:

  • Free and Pro Plans.
  • Save Passwords, Contacts, Bookmarks and Safenotes.
  • Cross Browser and Platform support.
  • Full USB portability.

RoboForm is a powerful cross-browser extension for managing your passwords and auto form filling. It is available in 30 international languages, offers full USB portability and mobile phone support. You can save your contacts, bookmarks and notes. RoboForm offers profiles which allow multiple users to use the same computer while securely keeping their RoboForm data separate.

RoboForm offers a great multiple login feature if you want to login to multiple websites at once, simple open your editor, ctrl+click on a few of your logins, then click “Batch Login” to login to all those sites simultaneously.

5. Sxipper

A Quick Look:

  • Firefox add-on
  • Form Filler
  • Manage OpenIDs
  • No account needed

Sxipper is a free Firefox add-on. It can keep track of an unlimited number of usernames and passwords, it can remember your personal data for accurate form filling and it recognizes OpenID forms and helps you manage your OpenIDs. Sxipper protects your personal data by keeping it secure on your computer system and if you want to share it online, you can easily retrieve it. No account is required, just install the plugin and it will begin to save your data automatically. It is available for Firefox only.

Which password manager do you use? Let us know! :)

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