Passwords. Yuck. You’ve got to hate them. I mean, yes, we all know how important security is and, yes, having unique, strong passwords for every single secure site and account you have is the only way to be safe, but how in the world are you supposed to remember the dozens of passwords and account names you have? You could use the same user name and password for virtually everything that allows you to make up your own, but that’s pretty much the worst possible solution – anyone who cracks one account has access to every account you have. Besides, there are still a lot of accounts that give you the password, username, or both, and those passwords are usually the ones that are pure gibberish and impossible to remember. Or you could result to the sticky note on your monitor (or far worse, what a relative of mine does, a Word document on his desktop – talk about an invitation to hackers) but while the sticky note approach is immune to online thievery, it’s kind of like writing the combination to your safe on the safe door. No, you need the strong, unique passwords and you really need to keep them either in your head or stored somewhere that’s safe from intrusions into your system or anyone who can read a sticky note.

One good answer that’s cropped up is the notion of a “password vault” – a program that resides on your PC or PDA and keeps the passwords in a file that’s safely encrypted and is itself password protected. Of course that means a program from a source you can trust and which you can rely on to be stable enough that you don’t end up losing all of the precious data you trust to it. Passwords Plus, from DataViz (who make the excellent Documents to Go software) is just that.

Passwords Plus provides security by using 128 bit encryption on the files it creates and these files can be accessed only by using Passwords Plus and only after entering a password for the program (Okay, so you still have to remember one password, and of course it should be a strong one, with numbers and symbols). Should you forget and walk away while Passwords Plus is running it will automatically shut itself down so that you don’t leave an unintentional opportunity for theft. The program is well designed to safeguard your information from both local and remote attempts to pilfer your personal data.

However, saving all of this critical data on your computer doesn’t make sense if you’ve traded increased security for the possibility that all of this critical data will be lost if your hard drive crashes or some other disaster happens. DataViz has provided a number of ways to avoid this problem. You can export the file as a unprotected .csv file as a backup store on removable media in a secure location, or back up the encrypted file which requires Passwords Plus and your password to access. The encrypted file saved on a flash drive or CD at your home can replace files lost due to computer gremlins, while the unprotected file would be a perfect thing to burn to CD and keep in your safe deposit box or fire safe. You can also print out single entries, categories, or the full set of records for your records, as well. A little security-conscious planning can ensure that your records are always safe and accessible.

Passwords Plus is a breeze to use, as well. The user interface is very clear and easy to use. There are 27 templates for just about every type of data you might want to save, and in the unlikely event there isn’t a template, you can make your own. The default templates are user-configurable, as well, so you can customize them at will. Entering data into the template is a simple matter of entering information into the provided text areas, which support cut and paste as well as typing. You can also assign categories to your data and view only selected categories, and you aren’t limited to a set group of categories, since you can edit them, as well. You can even have multiple users, each with their own password, on a single installation of Passwords Plus, so if your computer is used by more than one member of the family, everyone can have their own secure storage.

But there’s a lot more potential to Passwords Plus than just storing passwords. There are templates for other secure information, like bank account info, as well as less sensitive information like your eyeglass prescriptions, clothing sizes, and product warranty information. Since you can create your own templates, the types of data you could store is up to your imagination. Since you Passwords Plus also allows you to sync with your Palm device or Pocket PC, you can carry all of this critical information with you wherever you go.

As I was exploring Passwords Plus it occurred to me just how much personal data I have that suffers from lack of organization. It also occurred to me just how valuable that a printout of that data, stored away safely, might be to my wife if something should happen to me. This is a form of security that we think about even less than whether our passwords are safe, but is probably much more likely to be an issue for all of us some day.


Currently Passwords Plus supports both Windows and Mac as a desktop ap, and can sync with Palm OS handhelds, Palm OS smartphones, and Pocket PCs. Windows CE based smartphones aren’t supported – given the number of my friends who have the Audiovox 5600, that may be an option DataViz should explore.

Everyone has a lot of personal information that they need to keep organized, and anyone who shops, surfs, or uses the Internet needs a way to keep the seemingly endless number of passwords that requires safe and organized. I found Passwords Plus to be an extremely useful and easy to use tool which I would highly recommend, especially since it’s only about $30.

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--Tucker Hatfield
Technology Editor