I decided I would start a series entitled “Products I love and actually use.” While I do reports on tons of different technology, I only use on a regular basis a small fraction of those technologies. So I thought I’d launch a series where I spotlight products that I actually use all the time and explain why they’re so great, and why it’s made my life so much simpler.
The bane of having hundreds of user IDs and passwords
I’ve got hundreds of accounts on various sites all over the Internet. I could use one password for all of them, or get a password memorization program. Password memorization programs are not new. In fact, IE has password memorization built in and you can get plugins for Firefox that will memorize and generate strong passwords for you. The problem with those solutions is they’re computer and browser specific. If you use different computers and different browsers, you need to sync up or use only one computer and browser. A royal pain the butt that will become more of a nuisance than just memorizing passwords.
Prior to getting a password memorization program I would often hesitate before signing up for another service because I’d think, “Uggh, not another password to remember.” I’d eventually cave in and end up using the same weak password I use for non critical sites (critical being anything where there’s money being transferred or tons of personal information and data). To increase the memorization complexity, sometimes the standard username I like to use isn’t available and then I have to use my second or third choice.
The real annoyance comes when I come back to the site and have to remember which combination of username and password I used. After a bunch of tries I get it, or there are cases I don’t know if I ever signed up for this service and then I have to click the “forgot password” link where the site sends me my password or a new “reset” password and I have to generate a whole new password all over again.
Years ago I discovered RoboForm2Go (at the time it was called Pass2Go) and my experience with user IDs and passwords has become completely painless and it’s saved me an enormous amount of time.
Password memorization wherever you go with RoboForm2Go
I love Roboform2Go and I actually use it.
Here’s how it works.
RoboForm2Go is a password memorization program that can be installed on any USB drive. You stick the drive into any Windows based computer and it launches automatically (or manually if you specify). The program then runs in the background and pops up whenever you go to a site and fill out a username and ID. The resultant pop up window asks you if you’d like to save the username and password to RoboForm. You confirm and it saves the site’s login page and along with your user ID and password. It’s a one time process and the information is encrypted. Only you can reveal it and all the other sites/IDs/passwords with one giant master password you use to access RoboForm. That means you only need to reemember one password. RoboForm memorizes all the others for you.
Next time you want to go to a site that RoboForm2Go memorized, you simply go to the RoboForm drop down menu which appears as a toolbar in your browser, and select the site as if you were selecting one of your bookmarks or favorites. It goes to the site, fills out your user ID and password, and you’re logged in.
Some of you who don’t use a password memorization program are probably clicking the option “remember my login information” for each individual site. This saves your ID and password information in cookies. The danger of this move is it won’t “remember your login information” on another computer, and if someone steals your computer all those accounts are now compromised and long forgotten.
What I love about RoboForm is I can take my user IDs and passwords to any computer. I work on two computers at home, and sometimes if I’m travelling and don’t want to take my computer but have access to accounts I can just take my USB key. Also, if you use RoboForm2Go on another computer, as soon as you pull the key out all the user IDs and passwords are erased. No information is stored in cookies or anywhere else on that computer.
If I accidentally lose the USB key, it’s useless to anyone who doesn’t know my master password. Also, I can backup all the encrypted information so if I do lose the key I can simply upload all the ID/password data to another key and be good to go. Plus, RoboForm2Go gives you the option to make a file and print out all your user IDs and passwords.
Here’s what RoboForm2Go eliminates
- Constantly retyping what user ID/password combination you used for a site because you can’t remember.
- Not locked to any one computer or browser that has all my user IDs and passwords memorized.
- No fear of signing up for another service because it’ll be yet another user ID and password you’ll have to remember.
- No need to use the same password for everything (which is not good security) because it’s not possible to remember all those passwords.
- Not remembering which sites you actually have an account on.
- Having to go back to your “home/office computer” because that’s where all your account information is.
- Manually filling out forms of your name, address, phone number, etc. Automatic form filling is another feature of RoboForm2Go
RoboForm2Go is a product I use every single day and I love it. I highly recommend it. It only costs $40 for the pro version (unlimited user IDs), and it’s completely worth it.
Check out my second installment of “Products I love and actually use,” Microsoft OneNote.
