Take all of the antivirus, anti-spyware, and anti-phishing software in the world. None of it can protect you if you surf the Internet with weak or weakly-protected passwords.
Just imagine the consequences if hackers were able to obtain one or more of your passwords. Would they be able to access your bank accounts, online shopping accounts, credit cards, and more? Even one compromised password could be big trouble.
Most people know this. Yet many, recent reports suggest, continue to use the same password for most if not all of their online accounts.
A recent study by U.S.-based communications firm @www found that over 60 percent of Internet users employ the same password for all of their online accounts. Other recent studies resulted in similar findings. So what’s the solution?
Password Managers
Password managers can be a great solution to the problem of trying to create and remember passwords. There are dozens on the market, but two stand out on most people’s lists as best-of-breed: RoboForm and Lastpass.
Roboform (http://www.roboform.com) has been around for many years. It has evolved from a first-class form filling application — with a free version as well as a commercial “pro” version — into a combination password-form filler that integrates into your browser by means of a toolbar. It’s fast, easy to use, and contains no annoying pop-ups or adware.
The main knock against Roboform has been that the process of synchronizing your passwords on one machine with those on another is less than elegant. An add-on product, RoboForm2GO, is required to take your password and form filling data with you to another machine. And yet another associated product, GoodSync, can help to keep passwords, form data, and other common application data in sync automatically, assuming the computers are connected or that you carry around a flash drive with the latest updates.
What’s really…