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A Free Password Manager that's Just as Good as Roboform
I never thought I'd see it happen; a free password manager as good as Roboform and maybe even better.
Unlike Roboform which is a utility that runs on your PC, LastPass uses a web service that works in combination with a program that runs on your PC.
It's a smart approach:
The webservice means your passwords are accessible from different computers: PCs, Macs or Linux boxes.
The stand-alone program that runs on your computer means that you can access and use your passwords even when you are offline.
But the thing I like best about LastPass is that, just like Robboform, it automatically fills in login forms as soon as you visit a website. This makes it quite different from other password managers that merely store your login information and require you to copy and paste your credentials.
And LastPass stores more than usernames and passwords, it also stores webform infomation, in a similar manner to Roboform's Passcards. It also securely stores your notes.
The security and privacy of your infomation is protected by strong 256 bit AES encryption. Furthermore your encryption key and master password never leave your computer so not even the folks at LastPass can read your data.
Plugins are available for both Internet Explorer and Firefox so it will not only work on Windows systems but Mac and Linux systems running Firefox.
Some other features:
- Portable version available
- Can import information from most other password managers including RoboForm
- Can import IE and Firefox passwords
- Has a useful "Favorites" list
- Partial iPhone integration
- Support planned for Safari and Chrome (but not Opera)
All up, a lot to like here. Goes straight to the top of my list as the best free password manager.
Gizmo
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Comments
I find a lot of the listed commentary about this product rather interesting, it appears to me that few understand how it really works. You should listen to a podcast from GRC's Steve Gibson when he reviewed this service and was quite satisfied with it's security model as are many others in the security industry. They also offer an Enterprise product. I dont' work for them but their solution appears to be pretty strong. http://www.youtube.com/v/r9Q_anb7pwg&enablejsapi=1&playerapiid=r9Q_anb7pwg
Only the salted hash to encrypt the password is stored on the web, the rest is local with many other options to add on such as two-factor authentication to access the data. With multifactor and the method with which they provide the data I don't believe this is an easy to break model.
Secure your passwords by uploading them to the web? You're joking, right?
I just downloaded Lastpass, but am glad I read the comments. Come to think about it, the mere thought of my passwords on the web makes me shudder. So much for that idea! I also know how finicky Internet links can be. Secondly, I have been using Roboform free for years, and still do. I just keep the number below 10 and use the browsers to remember passwords for the rest. Never a problem. It is ironic that when you actually pay for things, it gets to be a problem! LOL. However, the only reason I was looking elsewhere is that I am having a problem with Roboform in Chrome. When I launch it, Dreamweaver comes up, which never used to happen! What's with that?!! Works fine with my Firefox browser on the laptop! Back to Roboform and troubleshooting this weird issue...
On May 3rd 2011 LastPass was broken into. (Thus the comment above on May 6th 2011 that LastPass was "busy") It is clear from the website statements about the event that those who oversee LastPass are not certain what happened nor how it happened, and they have no solid idea what exactly was stolen from their servers nor what real implications such might have for the site's users.
I have never adopted LastPass because I am very wary of storing anything valuable on the internet, and certainly this occurrence strongly supports that wariness.
Security of digital matter is difficult in concept and even more difficult in execution. I very much doubt that more than a very small minority of the people on the internet, no matter what size company they work for, who purport to be able to secure digital matter can, in fact, do so. Certainly the people at LastPass are not amongst the capable group.
I think the fact that LastPass was compromised should be mentioned in the review of the program as a warning to all who might consider using it.
Ditto on Dobry's statement. There are Web sites out there that can withstand a zero-day attack, but they are few and far between, and LastPass is demonstrably not one of them.
After the compromise, I contacted customer service to request deactivation of my account and purging of data, as I was unable to logon and do so myself. My statements struck a nerve with their tech support, who chimed in with their own response that it is sometimes impossible to anticipate and defend against a sophisticated, zero-day attack, and that I was misdirecting blame upon the "victim," rather than the attackers.
I told tech support to look up "deny ACL permissions" and "positive security model," and then to use layers. Lastly, I pointed out that you cannot be depended on to protect others from being victimized when you see your own self as a victim. I rest my case.
LastPass was fine until my master password expired. For almost 3 days I get a popup that they are too busy and try back later to access my account settings. This makes no sense to me and totally defeats any benefit of LastPass. I am now looking for a replacement for password storage.
If you need more than 10, it's totally worth the small fee for roboform. Even with the free version the support and constant updates put it well past lastpass in my mind (having tried both).
I really don't like the idea of having passwords floating in the cloud, so to speak. Having a choice is totally essential.
My 2 cents.
Up until yesterday, I would have never looked anywhere else beyond my Roboform. It has served me well for many years. But now, they have pulled the bait and switch. I was promised lifetime upgrades for free. They just decided to start charging for every major update (7.x, 8.x, etc). Goodbye Roboform.
Yup. Me too, just discovered Roboform 6 won't work with the current version of Firefox, now they want me to pay $20 for a single desktop license or $20 p.a. for their online version. Oh yeah, I get an "uprgade" discount to start me off, how generous. Thanks a lot Roboform. I don't do business with people who break their word. You promised free upgrades for life, you lied, goodbye.
may exact feelings about roboform, the ole bait and switch -- grrrrr I used to pitch roboform won't do that anymore - irritate me once ......
I use Password Safe works well does not use the Internet
http://passwordsafe.sourceforge.net
A serious person would never share passwords with a software that contacts the internet. C'mon. +10 to Roboform of course.
I tried Password Safe, but c'mon...there's no way you can say that it's anywhere near the password manager that RoboForm is. Neither are any of the other ones mentioned below.
To my knowledge, RoboForm is the only one that stores your data locally, and gives you the option for online storage. The other password managers just force you to choose one or the other.
What are you going to do when password managers like Lastpass force you to store everything online have server problems? You won't be able to login to any of your websites. What about when they hold your data hostage and your only copy is your online copy?
That's way too risky for me.
To me RoboForm is a lot more accurate and gives you a lot more options than any other password manager. I've been a happy user for 8 years.
All that griping about something that has no basis in fact is inappropriate. "Lastpass force you to store everything online ... your only copy is your online copy". The article makes it clear that the opposite is true. Also, if you're happy with Roboform's 10-password limit, then that's fine; but if you're referring to the commercial version, then that's off-topic.
I just installed Lastpass and am having a problem transfering data from roboform2go 7 version,anyone know how to tranfer the passwords and the URL.
Thanks for any help!
I purchased Roboform Pro a couple of years ago - and believed that the user license that I purchased included all future updates and upgrades. I just learned today that I have to pay to upgrade to version 7, and the explanations that I am receiving from Siber Systems/Roboform seems full of double talk regarding the exact terms of the user license that I purchased years ago. I am not a happy camper right now.
I am going to take a serious re-look at LastPass. I would have been able to accept paying for version 7 of Roboform -if the company had just been honest in their communications.
I was a happy user of Roboform2Go 6.9.99.0 until recently...Roboform2Go is the portable version of Roboform that you can carry with you on an USB stick. I was obliged to upgrade to version 7.0 because the Mozilla Firefox add-on (that you need to install to use it on Firefox) and that is compatible with version RF2Go 6.9.99.0, is not supported on the safe versions of Firefox anymore. While RF Desktop 7.0 now supports Google Chrome, RF2Go 7.0 does not. I can still use my RF2Go 6.9.99.0 with MS Internet Explorer, but unfortunately this is not my favorite browser. So I decided to a closer look at KeePass 2.0, which is open source and free and that you can install as portable too. I exported my over 100 passcards from RF2Go and imported them in KeePass 2.0 in five minutes (BTW, You can't import passcards in Roboform...). Installation of KeePass took a little longer, because you have to install the KeePassHttp.plgx plug-in in KeePass, the PassIFox add-on in Firefox and the ChromeIPass extension in Chrome, that is if you want to use KeePass automatically in your browser like Roboform does. For me KeePass turned out to be an excellent alternative.
[Moderator's note : commercial details edited out]
I also found out the same thing about the new version of Roboform.
I emailed them and got the same run around..
I wonder what their meaning was, when i first purchased roboform.
UNLIMITED UPGRADES.....and suddenly they want more money
Is it all about the new game called "GREED"
I am disappointed and have tried lastPass on my laptop, but seems i need
to do more reading.....doesn't work as easily as roboform........but who has the money to be paying for every upgrade..do u suppose they are related to Microsoft (Bill Gates).......hmmm i wonder if there is something to think about.
Thanx for listening.
Yes. Roboform is highly unethical in their policy towards existing customers. I had to buy another licence when I had reinstalled the OS last year as it kept on saying the first licance is already limited by use.I had to buy another licence. Just 8 months later it has conned me into upgrading to ver 7 which I thought would be a normal upgrade and free (or at the most for nominal fee for ver 6 upgraders). But at the end of trial period it offered only one lternative - to buy upgrade(?)licence which is as good as New Licence. Yes-'revert back to earlier version' option was not available along with upgarde option and we have to download ver 6 (may be stripped doen version?) separately and reinstall. I did the next best. I switched over to Last Pass since then but it is not as easy to use as Roboform thogh it seems to be good so far. Is there anyway to make Roboform see reason?
Ever try to use the phone number that they provide for tech support? What a joke. You either leave a phone number on their answering machine that they never return your call or, "Sorry, we are unavailable at this time. Call later.".
Their email support? A different answer every time for the same problem.
Their "free" upgrades? They just start charging for a new release whenever they seem to need more money - no rhyme or reason. And no upgrade price! You pay the same as new users do. What's up with that?
I purchased roboform and used it for about 3 months, I find their customer service terrible and i have lately had several drive problems that made me have to reinstall my OS, I was forced to reactivate roboform a email joke back and forth I gave up ans use LASTPASS, It's FREE and way easier.
1- If your goal is privacy online, and you use VPN or IP changers, you would be defeating yourself to leave a PERMANENT record in ONE place of all your locations on different VPN and IP. This would happen if you constantly access your passwords ONLINE saved at one location.
2- If you have cyberstalkers, and your browser leaks when a VPN goes down, and they find your password location online, you are as good as screwed.
3- Please make a good-as-roboform password filler that does NOT hang googly-critters in my face off my browser bar, but SITS IN THE SYSTEM TRAY and quietly manages my logins from there. It would be more professional, less intrusive, and not hog my browser window on my tiny laptop.
Here is a real life scenario that Lastpass can do that no others that I know of can... I have tested a lot of password managers including PassPack and roboform.. etc.
I am a small business owner with 20 employees. I have a lot of very sensitive website logins that I share with some but not others. I want to share login with some employees without them actually know or see the passwords.
-lastpass allows me to share the passwords with individual employees securely and they will never actually know what the password is.
-I can revoke access anytime.
-they can only use it at work, and no where else (i set up their lastpass acct on individual workstation and save the login to the lastpass on auto-login)
-I can change the password on my account and with a few clicks, update all the shared accounts with the new password (they're working on an auto sync feature which is due out in a few weeks)
-One time password feature ( in case if you are in a public place and want to use a 1 time login)
-Cross browser support (my employees have their own browser preference and Lasspass supports it all)
These are just some of the features that I know of that some password managers do not have. If your purpose of having a password manager is only to securely store passwords for 1 person there are so many out there that do this well. IF you have a need to share password with others like many small businesses out there, then you need to take a serious look at lastpass.
Brainstormer
Lastpass now provides multi-factor authentication protection for free users (was a premium service). It is a double layered protection in case your password gets stolen as it requires you to enter a PIN from a specific grid after entering your master password.
I had the LastPass setup in a folder. Whenever I used to go to that folder, the folder stopped responding for sometime, just sort of hanged... and after sometime things would be normal. I deleted LastPass... folder behaves normally.
Anyone else experienced that? What can be the cause for this?
I wanted to like LastPass. I wanted to live my life on the web. I tried it for a week. In my opinion, it's not quite as good as RoboForm - although maybe I'm too used to the latter's quirks. LastPass worked with over 99% of my sites, but did struggle with a couple (yes, posted to the LastPass forum). RoboForm worked with all of them - and seemed less intrusive. Free is nice, of course (unless that's your income), but RoboForm is hardly expensive. I'm glad I tried it. I may try it again in the future.
what a shopping center for hackers...
if all the hacker will find is garbled/hashed/encrypted information, then it makes it a very undesirable target for hackers.
https://lastpass.com/safety.php
That's developers marketing, why should I trust it? A lot more convincing is the following page...
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