Private Browsing and Password Vaults

The bulk of my time during the last two weeks has been spent working on computers infected with dangerous spyware. The spyware comes in various names and has different techniques for infecting your computer and for making your life miserable by stealing your identity (or at least your friend’s emails). I’ll get to some of the worst in the next several blog entries. Just a very loud shot out: get your computer and ALL programs up-to-date or you WILL be a victim. By ALL I mean all Adobe applications, all security applications, all browser applications, including their helpers, all office applications, all drivers, your BIOS, etc. If you need help contact me.

This entry lists two specific ways to protect your browser AFTER you have it up-to-date.

1. The “Private Browsing” (Firefox) or “InPrivate Browsing” (MS IE). This feature is available from the "Tools" sub-menu of either browser. When you use this feature, the browser won't keep any browser history, search history, download history, web form history, cookies, or temporary internet files. However, files you download and bookmarks you make will be kept. It is important to also remember to turn off "remember password." In Firefox, for example, control for this option will be found under Tools->Options, Advanced Tab. (However, install LASTPASS first, because during the installation it will load all your browser-stored passwords and then delete them. Read on...)
   
2. Remove ALL passwords from your browser's "memory." Do this by downloading the application LASTPASS. This application stores your passwords in an encrypted format, so the passwords are "safe" and you can access your passwords from any computer by entering one password to log on to LASTPASS. Once logged in, the application will fill in your passwords automatically, bypassing keystroke loggers. If you have to enter a new password, say because you visit a site you haven't been to before, then LASTPASS will give you the opportunity to save the password in its database. Instructions on using LASTPASS are here.
   

With respect to LASTPASS, I'm sure you will question whether or not LASTPASS is a safe place to save passwords; after all, this is someone else's program. You can go to their website and read up on it to help you make the decision.

If you don't want to use LASTPASS, another option is to use a spreadsheet (EXCEL). Be sure to put a password on the spreadsheet and to encrypt it. Instructions on doing that are available in EXCEL's help.