Showing posts with label Across. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Across. Show all posts

Monday, February 3, 2014

Sticky Password Cloud 7 review: The ideal solution for password management across platforms

It's a multi-device world. It's not uncommon to have a work PC, a home PC, a smartphone, and a tablet, often with different operating systems. It's also an increasingly insecure world, where every week seems to bring news of a new data breach.

With more and more day-to-day work moving from the desktop to the browser, and the expectation of a seamless shift as you move from one platform to another, these two facts converge dangerously: A password shared among multiple sites means all of your data, and perhaps your entire online identity, is only as safe as the most poorly-secured site you visit. Sticky Password can help.

sticky password weak passwordr

Sticky Password will alert you to passwords you might consider changing.

Sticky Password Cloud runs as a standalone application under Windows, but also integrates itself into multiple browsers. The user can exclude some supported browsers, if desired. It also has Droid and iOS apps, all of which can share a common database of passwords, memos, and so on, through your personal, albeit unfortunately named, StickyPortal. When a new device attempts to connect to the shared cloud data, a one-time PIN is sent to the email address used when you set up the account.

Sticky Password helps you manage dozens, or hundreds, of passwords. You don't need to remember a thing -- except your master password for Sticky Password itself, of course. While Sticky Password doesn't force you to use a different password for each site, it makes it very easy to do so. It recognizes (most) login or account setup screens, and if it sees something that looks like it's asking you for a password, it can generate one, including mixed case, numbers, and symbols.

sticky password generator

Random passwords foil dictionary and pattern-based attacks.

Sticky Password integrates well with most major PC browsers. It appears as a clickable icon in the menu bar or status bar (depending on browser and preference), and thankfully does not add a toolbar. Support for browser upgrades is prompt. Sticky Password is very actively supported; the company recognizes that this is a vital utility to its users and, in my experience, reported bugs are addressed promptly.

An obvious downside is that if your Sticky Password database is lost (through catastrophic drive failure, for example), you may be in serious trouble. There are some solutions to this: You can do an export (plain or encrypted) of your password database, and store this in a secondary location (if it's not encrypted, it better be very secure). Further, it produces backup database files regularly. You can back these files up (or make sure your favorite backup program or service, such as Carbonite, includes them), instead of doing an export yourself. And, with Sticky Password Cloud, you can now sync your passwords across multiple devices, with the encrypted data stored remotely. The user is in control of if data is synced.

This is something each user must weigh carefully. Any time all your information passes through a single bottleneck, there's a risk. No matter how secure the servers are, there is always a chance of an unknown exploit being discovered, or a user error leaving an opening. On the other hand, failing to use unique passwords on each site opens up even more points of risk.

sticky password gaming folder

Sticky Password allows organization into folders, helpful for large databases.

Sticky Password Cloud adds in a few new features beyond the cloud functionality. Lamantine Software has added grouping for secure memos, improved support for import of bookmarks and passwords from additional browsers, and updated Sticky Password Cloud to the latest look and feel.

Licensing for Sticky Password Cloud is a bit unusual: It covers all devices for a single user for one fee, 20.00, which is good, but it must be renewed annually, which is less good. For those who are not multi-device users or who do not want syncing, there is Sticky Password Desktop, which has no time limits on its license, and no cloud functionality.

Lamantine Software donates a portion of Sticky Password Cloud sales to helping endangered manatees (Oh, the huge manatees!).

manatee 640x428 copyright keith ramos Keith Ramos

How often can you protect both data and aquatic mammals? Not often!

Sticky Password is a permanent part of my computing life. I have been using it day in and day out for two years now, and I have encountered only small issues, rapidly resolved. If you are using another password management tool, compare feature sets. If you aren't using a password management tool, you should be, and Sticky Password is one of the best.


From PC World. Electronics product reviews and advice for best reference

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

M-Go Poised To Be Your Ultimate Entertainment App Across Devices

At SXSW, hugely popular production and media companies DreamWorks and Technicolor are previewing their yet-to-be-released M-Go TV app, touted as the only app you’ll need across all your entertainment devices. M-Go wants to wrangle your fragmented library of multimedia into a single platform to act as your one-stop shop of consolidated content. We hopped into the company’s fully decked out purple bus on our way to the Austin Convention Center, and this also served as M-Go’s demo time for the app.

Right now, M-Go is being exhibited in private beta mode, slated to launch with 10,000-plus video titles available for purchase on demand.

“The idea is to create a service that works to bring all your media into one place,” said M-Go’s Cory Schaeffler. “It can work on your Apple device through an HTML5 app, on your Android device, your smart TV, PC, and more. After all, your content is only as valuable as the amount of devices it’s stored on.”

Technicolor is working with major studios to join in on providing content for the app. Ultimately, it will integrate live TV, smart TV and VOD including the ability to search and get recommendations within the app. The service is also partnering with Samsung and Vizio, so TVs, Blu-Ray players, tablets and other products carrying these brands will have the app preloaded onto the hardware. Intel Ultrabooks will also ship with M-Go built in.

All in all, it’s an impressive offering that could substantially alter the current landscape of service providers. M-Go is set to launch sometime later in the year, but no definite date has been nailed down yet.


From Laptopmagazine. Visit Amazon Computer and Notebook Center Here