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OK, I’ll be honest; it’s 4am and I’ve been up nearly all night. What little sleep I’ve had has been fractured from the stress of yet ANOTHER failed portable hard drive.
My backup resideth in one city and I lie in a hotel bed in another.
So whilst I rebuild an entire presentation overnight, ready to meet the delegates in my usual bright and cheery fashion in a mere four hours and thirty minutes, I have been pondering over a seeming conundrum. And found an answer.
There is none.
As in, there is no answer to my conundrum; at least not as I can find (but will happily hug whoever can install a fully-working solution).
Here’s the conundrum:
The regular reader of this blog will remember that I recently posted about the potential life-saving attributes of KeeForm, the add-in to my beloved KeePass password protector (Solving a website login + password problem).
It is ‘good’, but because I have not assiduously stored urls with it, KeeForm is pretty much useless and so I fall back on my Norton software to manage my login details.
Until recently, Norton didn’t allow you to put that data into a ‘safe harbour’, but I notice with the latest version — Norton2010, which I am currently reviewing — there is the option to back up a copy to ye ol’ usb stick. But nowhere else. Back up to, say, a Dropbox folder? Nope, not a chance.
So I’m sitting in the Qantas Lounge yesterday afternoon, en route to Sydney, and I’m using the pcs they provide, rather than my own laptop. I usually check that in to save all that tedious mucking about with security; no one in their right mind can use their laptop on an internal Aussie flight unless it is a netbook-sized contraption and is powered by Linux — because by the time Windows finishes loading it’s time for the food, beverages and a gentle descent into your destination.
But sitting at the Qantas-provided pc I realised that should I wish to visit some of my password-protected sites (bank accounts, PayPal, Gmail, etc.,) I would have to rely on my memory because there is no KeePass for U3-enabled usb sticks. Grrrr…
But why not, you might ask, just use the Norton data on the usb stick? Because I can only use that data if the pc the stick is plugged into is ALSO using Norton2010, that’s why! And in the Qantas lounge they don’t. So there, “ya boo sucks”, as Molesworth wuld say.
It’s simple. All I want for Christmas (apart from my two front teeth being recapped) is ONE password tool that syncs via the cloud with every other computer I have KeePass on, PLUS a usb stick that ALSO has KeePass on.
And if it turns out that there is software other than KeePass that can meet my needs (one software to rule them all, perhaps) then I will happily purchase and enjoy. Until then, I continue to mutter under my breath…
{ 9 comments }
Okay Lee… stay with me.
You have the right idea with KeePass, but you need to put that on the cloud in a secure way.
I just sent you an invite to Dropbox, which is a simple utility that shares folders across the web. The beauty of it is that it just plain works.
Now — you’re running KeePass on a thumbdrive, right?
If you can run it on a thumbdrive, you can run it in a Dropbox folder.
Yes, the application.
And if you are really hard up, all of your Dropbox data is in the cloud, too. So you log into your Dropbox account, download the folder into the PC you are using, and run it from there. Then delete it if you want.
Just in case your Spam filter blocks the invite, here it is:
https://www.getdropbox.com/referrals/NTE1NDQ3ODA5
Hit me up if you have any questions.
Ike´s last blog ..Justice in the Digital Age
I think KeePass can do all what you need. And why do you want to use a U3 version? There is portable version of KeePass at portableapps.com.
Also: Forget dropbox, just get mesh.live.com (5GB for free including remote desktop capabilities). It is perfect to install your portable keepass on.
Peter
I’ve used Mesh too, but Dropbox works on Mac as well.
Ah, gentlemen. I appreciate, as always, the wisdom of those far wiser than I – and I’m doubly flattered, Ike, that you still read me!
I do indeed use dropbox – I love it. But the portable KeePass – that is a new one on me and I’ll check it out. I assume that by some magic jiggery-pokery I will be able to use it on ANY USB stick, yes?
Now THAT would be ace!
As for the 5gb of mesh – yes, that tops Dropbox’s 2gb; but does not the mighty MSoft offer 25gb via it’s cloud offering? But then again, it’s not easy to sync to that, from memory…
But even with KeePass in the cloud and on my various computers AND on my USB stick. as far as I can tell there is no way to export the login data I already have in Norton and import it into KeePass – and I somehow doubt that someone from Norton is going to jump into this conversation and take business away from his employer and give it willingly and freely to an open source app. Sigh.
Gentlemen, what suggestions for what next to do? “Suck it up, Princess!”, as we say over here?
Can’t answer your Norton issues, but here is the link:
http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/keepass_portable
You can even run Google Chrome from a USB stick now.
And I use Portable Thunderbird on a local drive folder as part of my 7-year-old daughter’s email system:
http://occamsrazr.com/2009/08/13/secure-e-mail-for-kids/
Ike´s last blog ..Justice in the Digital Age
Or keep your passwords on your phone. In my case, an iPhone. I usePassword Wallet. But there are heaps of apps out there.
I’ve downloaded those portableapps, Ike and was extremely excited to see that my beloved KeePass was there. Until. Until I found that it is an older version that doesn’t read the latest database. Bugger!
Lee, you probably installed the 2.0 version? This version is not portable, because it requires .net installed on the host PC. That is the reason why Dominik still develops the “1.0″ version in parallel, which is portable.
By the way, there is now a KeePass version for the iPhone: ikeepass.de.
PS
The Keeform url has changed. It is apparently now: http://www.aliasbailbonds.com/KeeForm
Well, THAT’s a bugger! I either downgrade my database to 1.0 (which I don’t think I can do) or else I forget running it in that otherwise wonderful PortableApps thingy (and thanks, Ike, for that tip – you are brilliant, as always!).
Looks like I’m stuck. Sigh.
I’ve been toying going back to Steganos, anyway, since my laptop is now my main pc and I am increasingly worried that it will be hijacked by rampaging bloggers, or else someone just hoping they can hijack my bank details.
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