Get a FREE fully-working copy of Steganos Security Suite 7 (worth £49.99) when you sign up to the Practical PC Newsletter. How to Use Whisper 32 Password Manager
In this computing guide, Kai Chandler looks at a neat password manager called Whisper 32
A recent Computing Guide on managing your passwords referred to a free program to help with password management called Whisper 32.
It's never been easy to manage the variety of passwords that you may need to access different internet services and computer files so any secure mechanism to make it easier has to be worth a look.
Just remember a single password!
The idea behind Whisper 32 is that you only have to remember one password - that's the one to open up your password list in Whisper 32. Once open, you can record all your passwords, generate new passwords randomly and jump straight to a web address.
Getting started
To get started, just download and install Whisper 32.
Run Whisper 32 and press the Insert key to enter the first record. There's also a padlock icon on the toolbar to do the same thing.
Enter:
- Service name, eg. BarcWest online banking
- User name eg. johnsmith
- Password eg. pass21word
- Notes - the first line of the notes should be the address of the service eg. www.BarcWest.co.uk/login. You can add any other notes you wish to use.
When complete select OK and your password is stored.
Select Save As from the File menu to save your important password file in a directory where it will be backed up regularly eg. C:\mydata\passwordfile
Remember to add any other passwords and you can then tear up all those little scraps of paper containing scribbled passwords.
Secure passwords
The Computing Guide on managing your passwords gave a number of tips for dreaming up secure passwords, but Whisper has a random password generator that will make your passwords very obscure. To use this feature, press the Generate button on the entry screen.
You'll be prompted for a variety of characteristics such as password length, case and format. These are often determined by your service provider.
Accessing a service
Once you have set up a record in whisper, it's simple to use. When online, just select the record for the service you wish to use, then select Open URL from the Edit menu (or press control-H or select the appropriate icon on the toolbar) and Whisper will call up a browser window and take you to the address specified in the first line of the notes.
You can then copy and paste the username and passwords from Whisper into the browser window. You'll never need to type that password again!
Take a two - tier approach. By all means use the same password for run of the mill sites but please choose a unique password for any sites eg. AOL or your bank where confidentiality or money are concerned!
Backup regularly
These passwords are stored in a data file - it's essential that you backup this data file regularly along with your other important files. That way you won't be in the mire if you accidentally lose the file. The old rules about eggs and baskets certainly apply here. You can also print a password list from Whisper but don't leave it lying around for all to see!
Security
The security built into Whisper 32 should defeat most casual hackers. It uses the US RSA Data Security MD5 Message Digest algorithm. If you forget the password, there's virtually no way to access your data so please take care to make it memorable and known only to yourself!
