Using the same password for every application doesn't make any sense, and it's a great way to get your accounts compromised. If someone happened to get a hold of your e-mail password, for example, they'd also have access to your web banking, private websites, and anything else that used those password sets. The problem is that it can be a hard endeavor to make unique passwords for each application or account, as remembering them all can become quite difficult.

A password manager makes your job a bit easier by recording which user id's and passwords go where, as well as adding other features such as auto-fills or automatic account creation. Many of these programs can pull the information from the web form as you are filling it in, saving you from having to do it again in the future. How does Password Manager XP hold up?

Password Manager XP is loaded with good features, including form auto-fill, random password generation, as and database creation.

You can create databases for your various passwords, and retrieving them is simple and easy to do. You can create user accounts, and you can control the type of access that each account will have. Want them to have complete access? It's just a matter of changing a few settings. This is ideal for business or group use that share common passwords.

Password Manager XP employs some of the most secure encryption methods around, ensuring that your password won't get discovered easily. Though any encryption can be cracked, the encryption that PMXP uses is highly sophisticated, and would take thousands of computer hours to do so. It is highly unlike that anyone has that kind of time, and unless you're a multi-millionaire, I wouldn't even worry about it happening.

Using Password Manager XP

This software is a cinch to install, but once you begin tinkering with it you may quickly find yourself in over your head. The interface, though not user unfriendly, is definitely not the easiest to navigate. Some of the menu's and configuration screens can be quite intimidating, and if it weren't for the excellent help documentation that comes with the program, a new user may find themselves lost in a myriad of choices and options.

However, once you've figured the settings menu out, you're in the clear as the application becomes quite easy to use. You can right click on password text boxes, and the program automatically inserts the associated password based on the user ID. We tried our web banking, Hotmail accounts, Yahoo accounts, and the program remembered them all.

Then, just for fun, we changed users, and the program handled that without complaint as well.

Conclusion

This program is very competent, though it is a bit more difficult to figure out. Once you've bested the learning curve, you're all set!