Systura Where information becomes knowledge...

I have been a fan of KeePass for several years now.  KeePass is a great password manager.  I use it for all my passwords and every new site that needs a password, I use KeePass to generate a password for that site.  Because of KeePass, I only remember a small handful of my passwords and the rest require that I open up KeePass to get the information.  Why do I like KeePass so much, well, there are a few reasons:

• It runs on many different platforms.  My main work computer is Windows, but there are programs for the Black Berry, Linux, and OS X.  The version for Linux and OS X are KeePassX, but the file format is the same.  BTW, I share the file between systems using DropBox.
• On Windows, pressing Ctrl-V will cause the username and password to be auto filled into a username and password form and submit the login.
• You can create groupings of your passwords.
• You can search the password entries.
• There is a Windows portable edition of KeePass, so I can take the passwords with me.
• You can have KeePass files protected by a key file, which can be stored on a USB drive.  I find this great for sharing a password file between people.

Recently, I became acquainted with LastPass.  LastPass is a password manager in the cloud working within your browser.  It supports all the major browsers and platforms, including Black Berry and iPhone.  Though, you need to get a premium account to use the application on the Black Berry and iPhone and I have not signed up for the premium account yet.

LastPass will import your passwords from many different sources, including Mozilla Firefox and KeePass.  I have the information from both, including having LastPass delete the password store from within Mozilla Firefox.  LastPass will also export passwords to other formats including Mozilla Firefox.

I have found that LastPass works very well with web sites and you can have LastPass automatically fill in the login information and submit the login for you, KeePass would do that, but Mozilla Firefox would only fill in the login information.  If you do not have the autologin enabled for a site, LastPass offers a drop down of possible username and password combinations for the site.

LastPass have several tools available, like generating a password, or filling in forms automatically.  The forms function looks interesting, how many times have you had to fill in your name and address to register for a new site?  I have not tried it yet, but will soon.  LastPass also has the ability to use a YubiKey, but only for premium customers.  I have a YubiKey and look forward to trying that feature.  LastPass also has a way to share passwords.  I am going to have to look into the password sharing, but I think it will only be useful if it can be used with other applications, see below.

One area where LastPass does not work too well is for other applications that require usernames and passwords, like iTunes.  Every time I purchase something on iTunes, I would open my KeePass and copy the information so I could login and make my purchase. Even with LastPass, I will have to keep KeePass around for that.  LastPass says they are working on a solution and I look forward to seeing the solution.

I like what I have seen from LastPass so far.  I will keep working with it.  LastPass does have a nice "My LastPass Vault" page which shows all the entries on a single screen.  I can not believe all the passwords that I have.  I have even gone through the password page and deleted some stuff that was so old that the systems are no longer around.