Most likely you realize the danger of using the same password for all your various online activities: If someone gets your password, they have access to everything. But if you use a different password for every website, how can you remember them all? Enter the world of password managers. Here’s a quick rundown of 5 6 of the best that are out there.

1. KeePass

Price: Free OS: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, PocketPC, Android

This free, open-source program works on a variety of operating systems, for both your computer and your mobile device. Its many features include a password generator, secure notes, and importing and exporting your password list in a wide array of file formats. You can even print out a hard copy of your passwords for secure offline backup! This is definitely one of the best free password managers on the market.

2. LastPass

Price: Free basic edition, $1/month premium edition OS: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Mobile

LastPass is compatible with virtually every operating system and phone platform. It has a number of impressive security features, such as support for two-layer authentication. LastPass even allows you to set up a one-time use password, which is great for times when you need to get to your password database but you are not sure if the connection you’re on is truly secure. There’s no need to worry about someone trying to use that one-time password again.

3. 1Password

Price: $39.95 computer edition, $14.95 iPhone edition OS: Mac OS X, iPhone

This program is geared toward Mac and iPhone users. It allows you to organize and sync passwords and any other kind of file, which is handy when you’re on the go a lot but need to access your important documents. 1Password integrates nicely with Evernote and Safari, and it has an excellent user interface that any Mac user will appreciate.

4. Sxipper

Price: Free OS: Any

Sxipper, an add-on for Firefox, manages passwords and auto logins as well as automatically filling in form fields in Firefox. It simplifies your Web experience by keeping track of a virtually unlimited amount of usernames and passwords. Sxipper can also securely store personal information such as names, addresses, phone numbers, and so forth. It uses Firefox’s native password manager to provide strong encryption of your data. Best of all, since Sxipper is a Firefox add-on, it works with any computer and operating system that can run Firefox.

5. RoboForm

Price: Free OS: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, iPhone, Android, Windows Mobile, Palm, Symbian, BlackBerry

This free password manager works with an impressive array of operating systems and mobile platforms. Its features include securely storing both online and offline passwords and logging you into online account automatically. RoboForm can even fill out online checkout and registration forms, thus relieving you of this repetitive task. Of all the free password programs out there, RoboForm has received some of the best reviews.

6. Sticky Password

Price: Free and $29.99 for the Pro OS: Windows

Sticky Password is an award winning Password Management tool that stores all your login credentials in a secure, and encrypted manner. Read our full review for Sticky Password Free.

As you can see, many of these password managers have similar features and pricing. So how can you choose the one that’s right for you? The key is to download a few and try them out. See which ones work best on your computer or mobile device, which ones have the easiest interface, and provide the most options that are useful to you. Then choose one and stick with it.

About the author: During his time as an in-house writer and analyst for a leading online ink cartridges supplier, James Adams has written on everything from the HP 300XL to the latest developments in hardware and design on their blog.

© 2010, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: applications, management, password, Tools, useful

How to use Microsoft Scalable Fabric:

1. Download Scalable Fabric from the Microsoft Research website.

* You’ll be surprised to see that the program is only less than 1 MB.

* It works with XP/Vista/Windows 7

2. Once downloaded, install the program. Click Start –> Click Microsoft Scalable Fabric.

3. You’ll see a new icon in your system tray and that’s the icon for the Scalable Fabric.

4. Try to open a folder/program and minimize it and you’ll see a nice effect. When you minimize several windows, they will stack themselves at the side of your screen, but you can still see them clearly. When you hover over the shrunk window, the name of the window will be displayed.

5. When you first used the program, you’ll hear a sound effect every time you minimize/maximize a window. You can disable it by right-clicking on the Scalable Fabric icon in your system tray and click Configure.

Scalable Fabric is an awesome tool if you want to see a nice minimize/maximize effect for your Windows PC. This is also a great tool to impress your friends and family!

© 2010, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: effect, Microsoft Research, minimize, Tools, Windows

1. Open Firefox. Go to Tools menu and click Options. Go to Main tab.

2. In the space provided for the URL of your home page, follow the URL of your present home page with a separator: “|” (no spaces or quotations) and follow that with the URL of a different homepage.

Example: http://www.google.com|http://www.facebook.com|http://www.yahoo.com

You can still add more if you want but I’m not sure about the limit.

That’s it! The next time you open your Firefox, you’ll see multiple homepages.

© 2009, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: Firefox, homepage, multiple homepages, options, Tools, url, web browser

Take a look at these awesome desktop blogging softwares:

1. Windows Live Writer (WLW)

WLW makes it easy to share your photos and videos on almost any blog service — Windows Live, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, TypePad, and many more.

WLW is probably the most popular desktop blogging software today. It is an impressive blog editor, and is probably the cleanest one.

For a complete review about Windows Live Writer, click here.

2. Thingamablog

Thingamablog is a cross-platform, standalone blogging application that makes authoring and publishing your weblogs almost effortless. Unlike most blogging solutions, it does not require a third-party blogging host, a cgi/php enabled web host, or a MySQL database. In fact, all you need to setup, and manage, a blog with Thingamablog is FTP, SFTP, or network access to a web server.

3. BlogDesk

As an offline weblog client, BlogDesk lets you comfortably write and effortlessly publish new entries to your blog. No need to use those annoying HTML Tags in the WYSIWYG editor. Images can be directly inserted and are automatically uploaded. Even publishing simultaneously to multiple blogs is a matter of a click.

4. Zoundry Raven

Zoundry Raven is the next generation WYSIWYG blog editor that makes posting to your blogs easier and faster. It’s as easy to use as a word processor, plus it includes simple tools to add links, tags, photos, music, video files, and more.

It supports Blogger, TypePad, MovableType, MetaWeblog and LiveJournal. The tool is available as a portable application which you can use on your USB device. Finally, you can use Raven to create and modify your WordPress pages just like any other blog post and set WordPress tags as well as import tags from all of your posts.

5. w.bloggar

The w.bloggar is an application that acts as an interface between the user and one or more blog(s); in other words, it is a Post and Template editor, with several features and resources that the browser based blog editors do not offer.

Because w.bloggar runs over the Windows GUI, it allows the user to edit posts without being connected to the Internet. Posts can be saved locally; and anytime the user wants to publish a new text, one click on the w.bloggar icon in the system tray brings up the editor, and one more click will post it to the weblog.

6. Qumana (Windows, Mac)

Qumana is an easy-to-use desktop blogging editor, enabling you to write, edit and post to one or more blogs. You can use it even when you are offline. Save your blog posts to your hard drive and upload whenever you like. Great for bloggers on the move!

Its features include easy text formatting and image insertion, simple Technorati tagging, and advertising insertion with Q Ads*.

*Make money from your blog content by inserting the ads of your choice with the built-in Q Ads tool.

7. Post2Blog

Post2Blog is a handy blog editor with live spellchecking and Flickr, Word, Firefox, RSS Readers integration. The tool also has a “Portable Mode” support, integration with RSS Bandit and Sharp Reader — you can post selected items from these RSS readers using Post2Blog plugin. You can also add Technorati, Delicious, 43 Things tags to your posts and earn money using “Insert Amazon Link” feature.

8. Bleezer (Mac, Windows, Linux)

Bleezer is a freeware that has all the standard features as well as some advanced functionality. Spell checking, pinging services, uploading files and FTP capabilities are available. It’s a handy little tool that is quick and efficient.

© 2009, The content is copyrighted to The Heat Web blog by Christian Casino. Please refer to the license before using our content.
Permalink | Post tags: blog, blogging software, desktop client, editor, free, Freeware, Linux, list, Mac, Tools, Windows, WordPress