PWVault - A Password Generator, Repository and Login Assistant

In a perfect world nobody would violate another's privacy. Unfortunately our world is not perfect. There are people who would, given the chance, view, modify, delete, and/or use our private information for their own nefarious purposes. This data is stored on computers and available worldwide via the internet. Therein lies the reason for UserIDs and Passwords.

To be effective the UserID/Password should be:

• private - Never give your login information to anyone unless you trust them completely and you are willing to accept the consequences of anything they do in your name. Anyone who has your UserID/Password is you for all intents and purposes.
  • Only you can prevent forest fires, i.e. keep your password private.
  • PWVault addresses the next  three points.
     
• difficult to guess - We all want passwords that are easy to remember. Unfortunately easily remembered also means easily guessed. Never use your name, the name of your significant other, the names of you relatives or pets. Never use your birth date, anniversary date, social security number, phone number. Never use any of these in reverse. The best passwords are a random mixture of mixed case alphanumeric.
  • PWVault has a built in random password generator. This will make the password very difficult to guess.
  • The password generator is configurable for length, letters, digits, punctuation and case to meet the requirements of different sites.
     
• unique - Use a different password on every system. If you use the same UserID/Password everywhere, any employee of that system will have access to any and all your other information. Bank and credit card data is among that information so they also have access to your money.
  • PWVault can store an unlimited number of UserID/Password pairs along with an account name, URL and notes. This makes it possible to have a different UserID/Password for each website.
     
• secure - Everyone knows that putting your UserID/Password on a Post-it Note on your monitor is unwise. Yet, millions of people do it anyway. It's just as bad to keep them in a Word file or text file on your computer. They become available to anyone who gains access to your computer via the internet or is just sitting at your keyboard. Don't use a challenge question with an obvious response, like mother's maiden name. It's too easily discovered.
  • PWVault's data is saved in an encrypted database file that is protected by two passwords. One known only to the program and the other known only to the user.
  • PWVault can use different files for different users so several people can use the same computer without sharing passwords

PWVault is designed to make truly effective passwords easy to use. PWVault can generate secure passwords. It can jump to a URL and  login. Its login method is configurable for unusual sites. There is a notes section to keep challenge questions and answers as well as other anecdotal information.

 PWVault is easy to setup. But there are many features that are easily missed, so please read the User Guide.

I hope you find PWVault worthwhile and decide to pay the small registration fee. Whether you do or not I would like to hear your comments and constructive criticism. Please join the forum at the fireworks website, www.dippel.us/pwvault. Thanks, Carl