Before I begin, this article is a personal admission as well as a warning for others. Hi, I’m Ray and I was a Password Mismanager. There are millions of people who put themselves at risk everyday and kinda know it? I’m not sure if we think we aren’t worth a hackers time, but we are. The worst part is that deep down, I think we are all aware we’re doing it. But I’m recovering and you can too.

First, let’s identify some of the symptoms:

• You let the browser remember your password for you

Ouch! This one bugs me on two levels. First of all, you are leaving the keys to your house on the front porch. You’re making it almost too easy for hackers. You are neatly wrapping your exposed passwords in a box and begging the world to write a hack to have it delivered like a pizza.

Secondly, while it makes it easy for hackers to get your personal passwords (and thus your personal identity information) it makes it impossible for you to actually remember your own passwords. It’s like placing a number in speed dial. You just don’t even know it anymore.

• You keep track of your passwords in a text document on your computer

I’ve never done this, but I know people who do. This is a poor practice. There are hacks written literally looking for files named passwords.doc or passwords.txt

• You never change your passwords….ever!

This was my most heinous offense. I’ve had one password forever. It’s easy to remember and possibly listed on every website I’ve ever registered at. I bet it would be real easy to try username combos and that password at any of the major banking or shopping sites. If it was my password 3 years ago, it would be my password now.

• You use the same password for most sites

This is another very common symptom. This is how hackers make their money. They get your password via a benign little email signup and try it at a ton of major financial sites.

A side note: more and more sites are looking sketchier and sketchier. I often wonder if they are just setup to get a username and password combo to try everywhere. Think about it, it’d proably work on many of us. Be careful!

• Your password can be found in the dictionary

The easiest hack to write is called a brute force attack. They write a program which tries every word in the dictionary. And your not safe when you use a 3 for and E. They’ve figured out that we do it and they’ve written all these combos into their hack.

So what’s a Password Mismanager to do?

There are many tricks to recover from password mismanagement. Here are a few home remedies:

Use different passwords everywhere
I know this is a pain, but it truly limits your exposure to fraud and identity theft.

Change your passwords 3-4 time a year for high risk sites (banking, brokerage, frequent shopping)
Again, this is a pain, but again you are doing some real damage control.

Securely store your list of passwords and sites
Having to open a piece of software to get your passwords everyday may also be a pain, but so is working with a lawyer to restore your credit.

While it is painful to protect yourself, it doesn’t have to be hard. That’s where we come in.

We are Safe-n-Secure software and we have developed several titles to help. We have an inexpensive, but powerful tool fo remembering your passwords. For only $14.99, we offer Safe-n-Secure Password Manager. With it you can manage your passwords using 256 bit AES encryption, the same level of encryption that the US Government uses. It features a quick search tool, many categories and a backup scheduler. If you’re interested, you can read more at here

We also have a data protection suite, Safe-n-Secure Privatize Platinum. It takes that password manager and bundles it with a tool for password protecting files, password protecting folders, shredding sensitive documents and best of all: it contains a license for protecting three computers. If you’re interested, you can read more at here

I hope your rehab goes as smoothly as mine did!

Be safe,
Ray

When you first got your computer, it came from the factory optimized to run properly. As you surf the internet, add files and software your computer gets further away from it’s optimal settings. There are several primary areas that could be causing your computer to run slow. The most likely reason is that your registry has become corrupt and your system is essentially running in circles with its internal processing.

The second most common problem is that you have too many programs running behind the scenes. Not the programs you know about that are running but the behind the scenes programs you may be unaware of. There can be literally hundreds of programs of various sizes running in the background. These are eating up your computer’s available processing capacity and can bring your system to a literal stand still.

So what did you do wrong?

Truth be told, you did nothing wrong. Spyware, adware, malware and viruses are figuring out more and more ways to get on your system. Sometimes you are tricked into clicking a link that installs it. Links to spyware can be deceptive. For example, a Web site that’s trying to push spyware onto your computer might open a window that looks like a Windows dialog box, and then trick you by installing when you click a Cancel button to close the dialog box. Sometimes, spyware pushers will put a fake title bar in an empty window, and then install spyware when you try closing the window. Sound familiar?

Sometimes, unscrupulous companies piggyback their adware and spyware with free software. That’s why it’s so important to verify your free trial software is spyware and adware free. We work with Softpedia Labs to assure all the software we sell is certified spyware free!

Don’t worry, there’s hope!

Without help, you have no way to prevent adware or spyware. Old antivirus programs don’t even prevent adware, since they didn’t consider them viruses or worms. First, you usually give permission to install adware, although you do so unwittingly because adware and spyware pushers are deceptive. Second, adware doesn’t behave like a typical virus or worm. It doesn’t spread like a worm.

Browse though our software tools to see if we can help. We offer tools for backing up, preventing spyware and viruses, password protecting files and so much more.

Making your computer productive again is our ultimate goal!

We want to help you protect and repair your computer at a fraction of the cost of a new system. We developed the Safe-n-Secure line of software to protect you and we partnered with other top companies to repair you. Please feel free to contact us with any questions.

SAN FRANCISCO–nCode Software LLC announced today that it has released three new Safe-n-Secure software titles; Safe-n-Secure File Encryption, Safe-n-Secure File Shredder and Safe-n-Secure Password Manager.

Safe-n-Secure File Encryption(TM)
Can you think of a file on your computer that you wouldn’t want a co-worker to see? What about a family member? What about your boss? Let Safe-n-Secure File Encryption take all your sensitive files and add password-protected file encryption to those files.

With drag and drop protection, it’s the easiest way to password protect your files with 256-bit AES encryption, one of the strongest encryption algorithms available. Safe-n-Secure File Encryption supports ALL file types. If you can save it, we can password protect it.

Get More Info at: http://www.getsafensecure.com/file-encryption-software.html

Safe-n-Secure File Shredder(TM)
You may think that you are protected as long as you’ve deleted files. The truth is that your data remains on the drive. Use Safe-n-Secure File Shredder to ensure safe and permanent data deletion.

Safe-n-Secure File Shredder lets you permanently remove files from your system easily without the possibility of data recovery. Use the ultra-quick one-pass, the quick three-pass, the DOD standard seven-pass or the Safe-n-Secure standard, 35-pass file shredding.

Get More Info at: http://www.getsafensecure.com/file-shredder-software.html

Safe-n-Secure Password Manager(TM)
Do you have trouble remembering which password you use for which site? Let Safe-n-Secure Password Manager help you manage your passwords and account numbers with unparalleled security.

Safe-n-Secure Password Manager protects your information with 256-bit AES encryption, the same protection the Department of Defense uses — one of the strongest encryption algorithms available. Your private information is completely protected!

Get More Info at: http://www.getsafensecure.com/password-manager-software.html

All three titles were designed to be compatible with Windows Vista.

About nCode Software LLC

nCode Software LLC with offices in Napa County, California and Santa Cruz, CA, is a leading publisher of innovative software products focusing on protecting sensitive information. The Safe-n-Secure product also features Privatize, the leading suite for file/folder protection. For more information visit www.getsafensecure.com.

© 2007 nCode Software LLC. All rights reserved.

I recently read a great article on this very subject. Imagine a loved on passes and they have all their passwords in an encrypted file or worse, they were only memorized.

In this article on MSN Money, they tell a reader’s story where her father died without divulging the passwords to his computer or online accounts. After trying to get access without passwords, she said “most companies don’t just give you access — it is a process that can take weeks and months (if they don’t just say ‘Oh — he’s deceased? OK, we’ll close the account’ and then NO ONE has access!!)”.
Your family could lose access to other potentially important digital files, too, if it doesn’t have your passwords, including:

• Photo and music collections.
• Calendars and address books.
• E-mail accounts.
• Security and wireless-networking software.

There is a simple solution. Select one trustworthy person to give your passwords, usernames, financial account numbers and contact names. This may be a relative, a close friend, your lawyer, etc. In addition, you can leave a list of sensitive information in your safety deposit box at your bank. (Just be certain someone knows where the keys are!)

(Safe-n-Secure Privatize and Safe-n-Secure Password Manager both allow you to manage all of your passwords and accounts with only one login. They also feature backups and easily printable reports)

Finally, it is a good idea to not only leave this information with one person or in one place, but to have it in several safe spots. Anything can happen, from theft to natural disaster, so keep the information in a water- and fireproof safe at your home, a safety deposit box or similar hardware not located in your home, or even with a trustworthy relative or friend that lives out of state.
Be mindful of your security, and in the case that your family must suffer your traumatic loss, you won’t add to that stress with unnecessary paperwork and headaches to finalize your assets.

Possible usernames and passwords to include:

• Personal computers (Windows, e-mail, etc.)
• Bank and online bill-pay accounts
• ATM/Debit and credit cards
• Cellular phone and other voice mail accounts
• Computer and home security systems
• Safe combinations and the spot where you hide the keys
• Stock, retail and selling accounts (E-bay, Amazon.com, etc.)
• Entry gates and keyless entry locks

Be Safe,
Ray