As a software architect and developer I am in and out of many applications or logged on to multiple web sites daily at the same time.
Some systems I engage use encrypted security and I literally have to answer a challenge pin or question to gain access. Many of your on-line banking and credit card systems do this.
It’s all part of the 21st century internet multitasking world we live in. With internet fraud and identity thief on the rise. Malware and on-line snooping software always lurking to steal your passwords or personal information staying current is a must.
Keeping good records and backups so if your information is stolen or lost only makes common sense. This is of course logic right? We all live in the real world and our lives are full of day to day activities that suck up our precious time. All we need is something more to do or another password to remember.
How many times have you been in a situation where you needed to enter a password to an online account account or re-install software and you could not find or remember the password?
Or have you ever had your computer crash or you accidentally did something stupid by making a simple mistake and you had to recover?
Well I had both of these situations happened to me recently and either I am getting old or my brain just can’t store as much information as it once could!
Here are 2 real life scenario’s as they happened to me recently.
Scenario 1:
During a routine copy/paste exercise where I was transferring files from my local computer to the Xanluna! web server, I accidentally deleted the master directory on my local computer.
I use a program called FileZilla. It is an excellent FTP application, but it has a few quirky functions. When I went to drag from the left pane (local computer) in the file manager to the right pane (web server) I realized I was about to paste into the wrong root folder on the server. So I pulled the mouse back and let go of the key. When I did this all my directories on my left pane disappeared.
It took me a couple seconds to realize what I had just done and about an hour to find the directory where the failed copy dumped the files. Everything went into several directories deep in the trash!
Now I attempted to move the files back and by this time the files were hosed. So I am sitting here scratching my head and swearing up a blue streak to myself. How bloody stupid could I be, I thought!
I had just wasted 8 hours of work as I had not done a recent backup prior to this operation other than my nightly. So I was forced to wipe out all my work and restore my backup from the nightly and start over!
BTW between the lost work and recovery of my files plus reconstruction I spent about 18 hours to rebuild and replace the lost work. Ouch!
Scenario 2:
When I needed to login to my sister’s website so I could resolve an error she was having with her ecommerce store I could not remember the super administrator password. My sister normally does the normal maintenance and has an administrator account.
The problem is the administrator account cannot change a super administrator account! Now this is not a good place to be. I thought I stored the password along with my sisters other data but forgot to record it I guess. Back to my busy multitasking day. Another gotcha and in this situation I was really stuck.
Well in this case I was forced try multiple passwords and of course the obvious one was staring me in the face. But for the life of me I could not remember. Finally after about an hour I remembered the correct password and was able to successfully login. Then I promptly changed the password and recorded it!
I could guess that you have been in a similar situation. For years I have stored passwords in a simple text file. When ever I download software (BTW-that is about the only way you buy it today) I would write the serial numbers and registration data to the file as well.
Later I adopted a note taking program and have been religiously storing all my receipts. But this still did not provide an easy alternative to storing and maintaining passwords and account information. So what to do!
After a good nights sleep I decided the best thing to do was to finally purchase a simple database program to store the ever mounting account information.
So I did a Google search and downloaded a small program called Password Repository. (MAC only) I have noted others with similar functionality for Windows. The program cost $25 and I think it is well worth it.
What is nice about Password Repository is it is document based. You can save and use how many documents you like each containing unlimited passwords. You can also set the software to open a default document at startup. Documents will be opened remembering position and setting and ordering data as you selected in preferences.
Password Repository can import and export data saving hours of work. You can import all your passwords from other sources such as database or other software and Password Repository automatically recognizes files coming from old Mac or Windows PC or even DOS based PC. You can export from Password Repository to other software too.
With this program you establish a master password to open the file. Make sure you keep a copy of this someplace as the software vendor cannot help you break it.
Because Password Repository is document based it stores your passwords all in one file making it portable. This allows you to copy the file to a thumb drive or CD or transfer the file or permanently store a copy for backup.
And speaking of backups, have you backed up recently? I have an automated backup program that runs nightly and now based on scenario 1 above and am now performing a special incremental backup before I transfer files. It only takes 5-10 minutes and gives me an excuse for a coffee break.
The bottom line is regardless if you do or don’t backup or use some method to store your passwords and account information one day you will face a gotcha! I learned the hard way that with all things requires discipline. As they say practice what you preach or walk the talk.
So what do you use for backup or storing account information?
