The Evolving Worker

This post will tell you why I now use password managers and which tools I’ve settled with.

I’m a strong believer in simplicity. Despite this, it took me quite a bunch of time before starting to use password managers. That was procrastination, definitely.

After starting to handle my own servers (to host the Evolving Worker, my blog for software developers or one of my pets projects like The Lighting Shop), I decided it was over.

Why did I start to use password managers ?

Here are the reasons why I now use password managers:

• only one, very strong password to keep in mind,
• convenience: a lot of typing saved everyday thanks to the auto-fill feature. That mean less frustation and more productivity,
• safety: when you think about it, it’s a lot more safe to have your passwords encrypted in one place (with proper backup) than non-encrypted and spread all over the place (emails, post-its, whatever other “safe place”),
• safety again: password managers usually have this feature to generate strong passwords when you sign up to a new web site (those strong passwords are actually a lot stronger than the ones we tend to choose by default),
• the tools I found are cheap and worth it in my opinion.

1Password (for Mac OS)

If you own a Mac, I believe 1Password really is a “Priceless Utility for only $34.95”, as they advertise it. I first tried their free version – the decision to buy it was pretty quick afterwards.

The video on their homepage gives a good idea of how well it is integrated with the browsers (Firefox, Safari, Camino and more…). Their auto-fill feature works pretty well – I only had issues with a few Ajaxy websites.

In short: I’m perfectly happy with it. It’s a lovely utility and it eases my everyday life.

RoboForm (for Windows)

The benefits of 1Password were quickly clear enough for my wife Cécile (her simplicity and organisation blog in french) so that she wanted to find an equivalent on Windows for her use at work.

After much trials (including KeePass which you may want to test), she finally settled on RoboForm. She thinks it’s not as slick as 1Password but believes it may be related to the french translation of their toolbar.

Once she got used to it, RoboForm is the most convenient password manager she could find on PC so far.