Manage your online accounts

A couple of months ago, something snapped. I finally got tired enough of having to remember all of my online account passwords to actually do something about it.

Every day, it seemed, I had another username and password combination to memorize. Banking, email, this website, the New York Times online... The trend wasn't slowing down, either. I seemed to click the 'forgot your password?' link by default, pure reflexive action, doomed to wait while my ill-rememberd password was forwarded to my email account.

As I saw it, these were my options:

1. use the same username and password absolutely everywhere.
2. write my usernames and passwords down on a small index card and put it in my wallet.
3. get a better memory.

Choice #1 was right out, for the obvious reason that it is a really bad idea.

Choice #2 seemed more intelligent, but still a lot of work: I imagined having to schlep my wallet out of my pocket several times a day, pull out a tattered index card, and try to read my handwriting. What if my wallet got wet? How could I waterproof the index card, but still retain the ability to add new information to it? What if I didn't have a pen or pencil handy? What if my wallet was stolen? The more I thought about this option, the less I liked it.

Choice #3 seemed hopeless. After toying with the idea of purchasing MegaMemory tapes off a late-night infomercial, and considering buying a lifetime supply of Gingko Biloba extract, I started to wonder how other people were solving this problem. Turns out, there is (what I consider) an elegant solution to this problem: Store your passwords electronically.

I found a Microsoft Windows program that stores your sensitive account information in an encrypted database file on your computer. Whenever you access the database file, the program asks you for the master password, which unlocks all of the entries in the database. Now, I only need to remember one password and the computer remembers the rest for me!

As an added bonus, this program can generate secure, random passwords for you. This is a nice feature: since you no longer need to remember your individual account passwords, why not make them really hard to remember, and therefore, hard to guess? This program can actually improve the overall security of your account passwords. And, since the database file containing your sensitive information is encrypted, you can rest safe knowing that it is useless to anyone who does not have your master password.

The program is called PasswordSafe, and you can download the latest version from here. Versions for non-Microsoft operating systems are available, also.

The final step in eliminating the need to remember any passwords ever again, it to make it so you can retrieve your PasswordSafe database file from anywhere you happen to be. I chose to make this file available online. There are many ways of doing so, but perhaps the easiest is to periodically email yourself the encrypted database file as an attachment. Alternately, you could carry the file with you in a USB memory key, or even a simple floppy disk.