Recently I received an email from someone who commented that he is overwhelmed with passwords for his Build A Niche Store (BANS) sites and has a hard time keeping track of them.  I suspect that he is not alone in not having a clear method of organizing passwords.

So, I thought I’d share how I keep my passwords organized.  I use two software programs to achieve this.  Either one would work fine by themselves but I find they compliment each other very nicely. The two programs that I use are AnyPassword and RoboForm.

AnyPassword

AnyPassword is a program that helps you manage your passwords.  It will also generate new passwords as complex as you want them.

I use this for far more than just passwords.  I use it to keep track of what sites I have installed on each of my hosting accounts, registration codes for the various programs I have bought that require them, my email account settings, and so on.

I can easily keep track of each BANS site I have created without having to use a spreadsheet or similar method.  Here is an example of what I use for each BANS entry:

URL Purchased 01/28/2008
BANS Created 04/23/2008
email address used for site goes here@gmail.com
http://BANS site URL goes here.com

MySQL Database:
Database:               database_name_goes_here
User:                       database_user_goes_here
Password:               password_goes_here
Server:                    localhost

Affiliate Details:
Campaign ID :        EPN_ID_goes_here
Clickbank ID:         clickbank_ID_goes_here

This program is free for all Windows platforms except Vista.  If you have Vista there is a fee to pay, but it is worth it.  I have Vista and paid for the upgrade.  Unfortunately, I don’t think it is Mac capable.

RoboForm

RoboForm is similar to AnyPassword except it works within your browser.  It keeps track of logins for every website you login to, including each Admin for all of your BANS sites.  This is a HUGE timesaver.  Whenever you want to login to a site you click a button and RoboForm will fill it in for you.  If you are entering login information for the first time then RoboForm will ask if you want to save this.

RoboForm is free for the first ten websites you save.  If you have more than ten then you are required to purchase a license.  Again, well worth the cost in the time saved.

Rochelle