Need a way to keep your passwords secure?

keepass_logo I’ve managed network security startups several times.  What the experience taught me was how basically insecure and haphazard most people are about their computers and accounts.

I’m not usually much better, but I think we can agree that the yellow sticky with your account password stuck to your computer monitor is not a good idea.

Still, the question of how much security is the right amount persists.  I hate to think how many accounts I have between websites, computers, email accounts, networks and homebanking.  Ideally each of these accounts would have its own username and password.  How to keep track of all those passwords, how to keep track?

Enter KeePass, an open source, encrypted password password manager for Windows.

You can enter and organize all of your passwords by categories and subcategories and secure the entire database with a master password.  A nice feature allows you to copy your usernames and passwords to you clipboard so that they can be pasted into the application requesting them.

As you become a fan of KeePass, you’ll find there are a slew of plugins to extend the function and integrate KeePass

Download KeePass [via portablefreeware.com]

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Need a video viewer that can play any format? You need VLC Media Player

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So many video formats, so little time.  Video cameras, the cute little joke time-wasting videos your friends send you, training videos, DVDs, “backups” of DVDs, avi, wmv, mp4, mpeg, xvid, divx, flash video – you get the idea – you can get so many videos in a babel of formats.

VLC Media Player sorts it all out for you.  It’s a cross-platform open source video player that is quick, light, free and can play just about anything.  It can even play your store-bought DVDs.

VLC is available for Windows, Mac and Linux as well as other platforms. 

Just download and install.  Download VLC Media Player.

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What is Open Source?

garland_logo.pngMany of the desktop applications we review and recommend fall into the category of open source. Let’s take a look at what that means.

Open source is a movement in software, a way of licensing software and a business model. Most important for the way we use it and recommend it — it means the software is available to users at “no charge” and can be freely copied and shared unlike commercial software like say Microsoft Office.

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