PassPack for online password management

PassPack bills itself as a free online password manager.

“Think of it as a password manager, automatic login and personal vault all in one. With PassPack you can quickly login to websites, as well as organize and store logins and private notes. Save up to 100 entries for free!”

Can PassPack read my passwords? Not even if we wanted to. It’s not possible. PassPack stores your locked pack for you without knowing what’s inside. PassPack can not unlock your private data. Only you can, with your Packing Key.

Is PassPack just for passwords? It’s your account, use it for whatever you want: Frequent Flyer miles, registration numbers, travel plans, notes, or even just links that you’d like to keep private (please, no financial data). You can find more examples in our ideas page.

Is PassPack portable? PassPack follows you everywhere. It’s available 24/7 via internet. You can access your passwords from home, from work, at the library, or anywhere else. There is nothing to install, and no USB keychain needed.

As always, use such services at your own risk, but it might be useful to have access to your information from anyplace you can access the Internet.

Reset your Windows Administrator password

It may not come up often, but when you need to reset the password for the Administrator in Windows, this tip could come in handy.

Internet Fixes has instructions on how to do this, step by step. Note- this only works if you have administrator status yourself, already.

Remember that you should always set your Administrator password to something other than the default because that will make it harder to break into your computer.

Windows administrator password info

Windows XP administrator password–required for operations such as booting into Safe Mode–Microsoft has a knowledge base entry that will help you reset the password.

Recommended PC World.

Update as of 5/5/08:

Another source of information is Microsoft’s “The Road to Know Where” pages where they have “How to use Windows XP’s password reset disk.”

Listing your passwords

Web site passwords: If you set Windows to remember your passwords, you may not have a separate copy of what they originally were (unless you keep them in a password storage program or other record). Because Windows doesn’t do much to secure those stored passwords, you can get them back using other software. Revelation 2 from Snadboy Software will reveal any asterisk-hidden passwords. (It’s free, although the site asks for a donation if you keep the software.) A $15 utility called Aqua Deskperience pairs a similar password-revealing ability with some useful features such as a convenient screen grabber and the ability to copy text from any application (including those where a copy command isn’t available).

Recommended by PC World

License key to reinstall Windows from Keyfinder

In the event that you have to reinstall Windows, you will need the license key that came with your copy. This is probably a string of 25 random letters and numbers. Magical Jelly Bean Software’s freeware program called Keyfinder 1.41 will find your license key. Download the program and run it, then write down your key.

Recommended by PC World.

Password generated for free

[Last updated 2008/7/7]

WinGuides Password Generator generates a 32-character password for use with a high-security wireless connection.

PassPub generates a password for you designed to be “easy to remember. There are 3 types of memorable passwords you can generate: (1) Easy to remember keyboard combinations, (2) Chemical elements, and (3) Passwords that are easy to read - these passwords use alternate vowels and consonants, suffixed by a 3-digit number.”  Recommended by MakeUseOf.

Plan ahead with a Password Recovery Disk

One Computer Guy has instructions on Creating a Password Recovery Disk for Windows XP.  The catch is, you have to PLAN AHEAD and create it before you need it.

This will only work for one computer, and not for a network password on campus.

Here’s the tip:

In case you forget your password, you can create a password recovery floppy disk beforehand to help you out of this problem.

1. Single-click Start menu
2. Go to the Control Panel / User Accounts
3. Click the User Account
4. On the left hand side, click on Prevent forgotten password
5. You will need to know your password to create the disk.
6. If you don’t remember your password sometime in the future, click on the green arrow like normal at the login and you will be prompted to insert the password recover disk.

Recommended by Lifehacker.

Microsoft on creating strong passwords

Microsoft has an article called “Strong passwords: How to create and use them” on how to create passwords that are extremely difficult for someone else to break.

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