.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Manage your passwords with SplashID
.AUTHOR Heather Wardell
.SUMMARY SplashID is a password manager with a built-in password generator. The developer claims it’s the #1 password manager, but we’re not big on hyperbole. How does it stand up to the tough standards of Contributing Editor Heather Wardell? You’ll have to read the article to find out.
.OTHER
SplashID is a password manager with a built-in password generator. The program comes with a few sample entries as well as fifteen types of entry, ranging from "Clothes size" to "Credit Cards". New types can be created if you need them. You can also put entries into categories (so, for example, you could bring up all business-related credit cards or all personal memberships).
SplashID is obviously very well thought out. Each entry has six fields available. For "Clothes Size", for example, you can enter the shirt and pants size of someone for whom you buy clothes; a credit card entry would include card number and expiry date. Each type has its six field names defined when the type is created, but one very interesting feature that I personally haven’t seen elsewhere is the ability to change the field names for a given entry on the fly. As Figure A shows, it’s quick and easy to change field names.
.FIGPAIR A Changing field names is easy in SplashID, and makes the software very customizable.
Given the sensitive nature of some of the information that you would store in SplashID, it’s not a surprise that the program has a solid password system. Make sure you remember the password you use. It has to be the same on the handheld and on the desktop, and if you forget it there is no way to recover it. You can set the handheld program to ask for the password every time you start the program or have it remember the password for up to thirty minutes (useful if you’re going into the application frequently to look for entries, but a larger security risk).
.TEASER For the complete review of this product, tap here.
As the desktop in Figure B shows, you can mask data.
.FIGPAIR B In the desktop version, you can see how sensitive data is masked.
On both the handheld and desktop, any data that you have masked is replaced by dots or asterisks. Pressing the "Unmask" button makes the data visible again. This is useful for keeping particularly sensitive data hidden while still having the application open, but you should still be careful about who was nearby looking over your shoulder.
The built-in password generator is also very interesting. While editing an entry, you can press the "Password" button and the program will create a password using letters, symbols, numbers, or any combination thereof. You can also have the program make sure that the password is pronounceable, which can make them easier to remember.
The desktop has all of the same features as the handheld, as well as one very useful addition. You can click the clipboard icon beside the specific piece of information that you’re looking at (a password, for example) and the program will copy that field to the clipboard, ready for you to paste it into another program or your web browser.
Overall, SplashID works exactly as you’d expect, and seems solid and reliable. The only problem I had with the program was with the import feature. The program is supposed to be able to import from YAPS (Yet Another Password Safe) and several other password safe programs. I use YAPS, so I tried the import, after first exporting from YAPS. I crashed my Zire 72 repeatedly, and was never able to get this to work. It did, however, work fine when I HotSynced my Palm and then did the import into the desktop version.
I would much prefer to not have to have the same password set on the handheld and the desktop. I rarely take my laptop out of the house; to access my passwords at home, I really don’t need to enter a password first. Still, it is much more secure this way, and it’s really only a minor inconvenience.
For its solid functionality, SplashID gets a rating of four out of five.
.RATING 4
We’ve got a bunch of other Splash products in for review. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more reviews that make a splash.
.BEGIN_SIDEBAR
.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on SplashID, visit http://www.splashdata.com/splashid/index.htm.
.END_SIDEBAR
.BIO
