1Password, The Wise Choice For Security

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My brother has been urging me to change the master password on my password software program named 1Password. Only a couple of people including my brother knew what my master password was. Obviously, I trusted both of them to not "mess with my junk." '-)

Yesterday I opened the preferences application of 1Password to figure how to change the master password, and very quickly spotted a button there labeled "Change Master Password". So far, so good. Even I could figure that out. I clicked on that button and it produced a dialog box in which I was asked to type in my old master password. So, I did.

Beneath the space for my old password was two more dialog boxes to fill in. You know the drill. The top one was for the new password and the one below it asked for me to repeat the new password as usual.

I decided to use the program's password generator to come up with a new master password, so I booted up the generator program and chose what seemed to be an easy to remember combination of numbers and letters I figured might stymy the bad guys, and wrote it down on a panel for such things behind my computer, and then hit Enter.

That was a mistake. I had written down the new master password in two places. I thought I had acted with the proper caution in such matters. I still don't know what went wrong, but the program wouldn't take what I entered as the new master password to open the program. This development was scary. I had hand-written copies of all the passwords inside the very program I had locked myself out of, so there shouldn't be a problem. Right?

Nope. Not right. My password to my bank account didn't work after I'd typed it in the old way by hand. Normally, 1Password would have filled in the user name and password for me, and opened my bank account in seconds. Entering that info the old fashioned way didn't work, probably because I couldn't read my own lousy handwriting.

Now I began to worry and anticipate all sorts of hassles I might run into if couldn't get into my bank account. I hate going to the physical bank building anymore. I have to drive over there, and get out of my car and physically walk inside. Then, I have to look people in the eye that will soon know exactly how poor I am is. Bummer. Messes with my swagger.

I had to take unfamiliar steps. I wrote an e-mail to the 1Password support group and asked what I should do. They had helped me pretty quick earlier when I first bought the program. Then, to waste some time, I drove over to a nearby strip mall and shopped for a new pair of scissors to give them an opportunity to write me back. Sure enough, when I got back home, there was an e-mail from one of their tech guys.

He carefully pointed out that they don't have access to anybody's master password, and there isn't any back doors he could use. That would make the program vulnerable to intruders. Next, however, he told me to try something that might work. I didn't understand at first, and then an LED came on and suddenly I did, and when I followed his suggestions the program opened right up. Hurrah!

After being online since 1992 I've grown to realize the importance of a good password program that could provide and keep up with some fairly complicated passwords. I was still using the very first password my first ISP provided me with for just about every site I subscribed to. Also, I've lost or forgotten my share of passwords. I must have read a hundred times in security articles that this was a stupid thing to do.

Since I'd previously read a couple of positive reviews about 1Password, a software program for keeping all my passwords (and other living things) inside the program's encrypted folder behind one master password, I began warming up to the idea of using this program

I sent an e-mail to Agile Web Solutions up in Canada just to see if anybody was home and to find out if they'd write back. I didn't wanna get mixed up with no slackers when it comes to passwords and encryption. They wrote back in a couple of hours and addressed my concerns briefly, so I decided to buy into their promises.

This happened during the time Apple was coming out with Snow Leopard in 64-bits. I was chomping the bit for this to happen. I don't know much about computers, but I read a lot. I read a lot about 64-bit chips and how they needed a 64-bit operating system in order to use a lotta DRAM memory.

Previous to Apple coming out with Snow Leopard I had a Mac Mini and a 32-bit CPU. I could have upgraded to a 64-bit core duo chip, but there were other limitations with the Mac Mini I didn't wanna deal with, and even though springing for a new computer wasn't in my near future plans, I decided to buy a new iMac that came with Snow Leopard already loaded.

Having the new iMac was the real impetus for my deciding to go ahead and buy my own license for 1Password:

http://agilewebsolutions.com/company

The company site stated back then that they didn't have the 64-bit version of 1Passport ready for prime time, but they had a beta thing going on, and the 32-bit version still worked in Snow Leopard. Since I had gone this far I decided to pay them their asking price, downloaded the beta program, and hoped for both our sakes they worked things out.

Fairly soon Agile had the gold version for Snow Leopard put together, and I've received lots of timely upgrades. The program has just gotten mo' bettah! There is some free software I've read about that does something similar. Normally, if it didn't matter that much, I might use freeware, but this is about real security.

I don't mind paying for software this useful when it does as promised. What's not to like about about a company that supports their product so vigorously. This program does the trick. Highly recommended.

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