1Passwd Eases Password Pain

On Jun 17, 2007, at 8:54 PM, Stephen Fleming wrote:

> 1Passwd is nice enough... but SplashID beats it hands-down in my
> world for one simple reason: Palm synchronization.

1Passwd syncs to your Palm too, though it requires a separate ($13)
purchase to do so.

Joe

==

Joe Kissell
Senior Editor, TidBITS <http://tidbits.com/>
I Am Joe's Blog <http://alt.cc/jk/>
Interesting Thing of the Day <http://itotd.com/>

On 6/18/07, Joe Kissell <joetidbits.com> wrote:
> On Jun 17, 2007, at 8:54 PM, Stephen Fleming wrote:
> > 1Passwd is nice enough... but SplashID beats it hands-down in my
> > world for one simple reason: Palm synchronization.
> 1Passwd syncs to your Palm too, though it requires a separate ($13)
> purchase to do so.

I could never get SplashID Mac to install on my Mac (I don't run as an
administrator). 1Passwd Palm is a one-way synchronization, though.
It's also slightly different than SplashID as 1Passwd is primarily
focussed on storing website login information, although you can use
the "Secure Memo" functionality to store non-web-login data in a
freeform manner.

SplashID gives you no integration, but is more structured for alternate data.

-austin

On 6/18/07, Stephen Fleming <fleming2m31.com> wrote:

> 1Passwd is nice enough... but SplashID beats it hands-down in my
> world for one simple reason: Palm synchronization.

i use passwords plus which i have on all my cmputers, and it synchs to
my palm tx.

nicky schleider

I use Web Confidential and Web Confidentail for Palm. It provides 2-way synchronization, so solves the multiple Macs problem. It's very solid and convenient to use. But admittedly it does not have many of the convenient features described in the article.

I use PasswordWallet for the same purpose -- encryption & syncing of passwords between the Mac and my PalmPilot. Works very nicely. I don't use the web autofill features much, yet, but I can see them being useful as I use better passwords in the future. =)

The Palm discussion introduces the obstacle of 1Passwd that for me is insuperable: I access the web (and thus sites with accounts passwords) from multiple machines, not all of which are my own -- and not all of which are Macs.

Since I don't use a PDA, wouldn't using 1Passwd just get me into trouble?

[You can sync 1Passwd's data between multiple Mac (I do), but not with Windows machines. So it would be, at best, a partial solution for you. -Joe]

Colin

Good article on 1Passwd. But you didn't mention how one would back out of it's use, since it now has your password, and what happens if it gets corrupted, and the whole issue of multiple machines, such as a work PC machine. Still, thanks for article.

On 24-Jun-2007, at 09:09, ric wrote:
> Good article on 1Passwd. But you didn't mention how one would back
> out of it's use, since it now has your password,

Actually, the reason I use 1passwd is that IT doesn't have your
passwords, ever. It simply interfaces with the OS X keychain, and
your passwords are stored in a keychain named "1passwd". In fact,
even the 1passwd application doesn't have direct access to that
keychain, since the key to that keychain is store in your regular
login keychain. All 1passwd does is give you a sensible and useful
broswer pluging that allows any (supported) browser access to all of
your web passwords. So I can go from Firefox to Flock to Safari and
all of them will be able to login to my, e.g. webmail accounts,
without my retyping the passwords.

> and what happens if it gets corrupted,

You can backup the keychain file, just like any other.

> and the whole issue of multiple machines,

Keychain syncing is part of .Mac.

> such as a work PC machine.

Nothing to do for a PC, I don't think

I use SplashID, for syncing and the ability to store all id info in one encrypted database. Its loss (from my handheld) is the single biggest obstacle (for me) of switching to the iPhone from the Treo.

I use Password Wallet. It syncs to my Treo, which I find invaluable, and is well developed and supported. [no, I do not work for Mr. Selznick]. http://www.selznick.com/products/passwordwallet/

I've been happily keeping my passwords organized with this for over four years. Love it.

Thanks for the great review Joe!

Since we're always looking for ways to make 1Passwd better, my favorite part of the article the suggestions for improvement as this helps us set the priorities for the next release.

We are currently making changes to the way we represent Credit Cards. A new Wallet feature will allow you to have multiple credit cards *without* duplicating identities.

Also, I see the majority of discussion here is related to taking your passwords with you on the road. We have a cool new feature coming soon that I think you'll like :)

Cheers!

--Dave Teare (Co-author of 1Passwd)

Disclaimer: I work for Agile Web Solutions (Developers of 1Passwd)

Someone told me about this discussion and I would like to add a few things.

First, regarding some things in the main article.

1. We have been working on a new Wallet feature which will eliminate the need to create a separate identity for each credit card. This should make it in the 2.5 release or slightly thereafter. We agree that the current method is suboptimal.

2. Filling in credit card information on checkout pages and the like really is a weak area at the moment and we have focused efforts on fixing this and greatly improving form filling fo the 2.5 release. We hope for this to be a non-issue soon.

3. We have had several discussion about the domain matching methods and have made some tweaks in that area. We are still investigating ways to make this better. Longest match seems like the obvious solution but with the way URLs can change this can cause problems too. Basically, when it comes to making a feature easier and more powerful we are all ears. We welcome all suggestions on this and other features.

I also wanted to address some of the comments made above.

4. There are a lot of great passwords vaults out there. They keep your data securely locked away which is also their main problem. Being able to easily use this information in a secure manner is much more powerful in my opinion. This is one of the reasons people fall into the trap of using weak passwords. It is too burdensome to get it out of the vault all of the time. We feel 1Passwd does a great job in this area. :)

5. The 1Passwd Reader for Palm will have true syncing in the future. This has been on the to do list for awhile now. We also want to do a Windows Mobile and a Blackberry version. Of course, we want to do whatever possible with the iPhone as well. Currently you can sync your information among various Macs via .mac syncing and we are working on a 1Passwd Reader for Windows which will allow you to read your 1Passwd data on that platform.

6. Mobility is always going to be an issue to some degree. If you take the best Windows program, it may not have a Mac version. Then there is Linux and portable devices. We are investigating ways to make mobility less of an issue and we have some things in the works. In the meantime, I wrote a blog article that show one way to take you 1Passwd data with you. You can read it here:

http://switchersblog.com/2007/03/27/taking-your-1passwd-data-on-a-road-trip.html

Finally, I ask everyone to keep an open mind and try 1Passwd for yourself. If you have questions, issues, comments, or suggestions please feel free to e-mail us at our support address or post a message on our forums. We would love to hear from you even if you think another program is better as we are constantly working to improve 1Passwd and the user experience.

Thansk to Joe for the great article and all of your comments.

Carl S. 1Passwd Support Agile Web Solutions

Joe Kissell mentioned in his article that some "Web sites ... disable
the use of autofill as a security measure", and gave one persuasive
reason (inconvenience, i.e., loss of productivity) to use 1Passwd as
a workaround for that disablement. But there is an even better
reason.

In certain environments, autofill can be a security measure rather
than a security risk. If you are using a computer in any place where
other people can observe you (e.g, an airport waiting room, a WiFi
cafe, a business meeting), then it is possible for sharp eyes to read
your finger movements as keystrokes. Autofill eliminates that risk.
(And as Joe described, 1Passwd eliminates the risk that ordinary
autofill might introduce in other environments.)

[That's a good point! Thanks for mentioning it. -JK]

Personally, whenever I'm with someone who is about to type a password
into their computer, I turn my back for a few seconds.
Unfortunately, not many people recognize that as the polite thing to
do in that situation. And it doesn't really solve the problem.
Hence the need for 1Passwd.

I would like to say that 1Passwd has really made things very easy for
me to do when I am on the web. I use a Wacom tablet all the time now
and can't work without it now! I just click on the lock and all is
done--no typing! I also use it with my Mail program with the bottom
click for scrolling through messages and the top click for deleting
messages. I also scroll easily up and down through web pages and tap
to click on anything. Never knew why I did not use the tablet earlier.'

Anyse

On Jul 9, 2007, at 2:06 PM, Anyse Joslin <anyse1mac.com> wrote:

> I would like to say that 1Passwd has really made things very easy for
> me to do when I am on the web. I use a Wacom tablet all the time now
> and can't work without it now! I just click on the lock and all is
> done--no typing! I also use it with my Mail program with the bottom
> click for scrolling through messages and the top click for deleting
> messages. I also scroll easily up and down through web pages and tap
> to click on anything. Never knew why I did not use the tablet
> earlier.'

Sounds like the iPhone.

Sent from my iPhone