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Keepass Password Safe mini-review
Josh:
APP NAME: KeePass Password Safe
APP URL: http://keepass.sourceforge.net
APP Version Reviewed: 1.05
Intro:
I have, just recently and thanks to dc.com, come across this fine app. This app is an open source password manager that is freely available from the URL above. It has many advantages over other password managers, which will be discussed later on (the advantages), and it appears to have a terrific rating wherever you look. Now, onto the review.
Who is this app designed for:
This app is designed for the user who has lots of passwords, pin numbers, login information, or security codes to manage. If you visit lots of forums, or software repositories (which most require registration to download now), you will benefit greatly from this application.
What does it cost
Freeware, Open Source
The Good
Let me first start by saying that I love the encryption method chosen by default by this application. On a new database, you are given a database which is encrypted using AES with a 256bit cipher. Of course, you can change this to twofish encryption, but this reviewer prefers the AES method.
OK, now onto the main application. With this application, you can create as many categories or subcategories as you desire. So you can be as anal as you want about how detailed you are when organizing your passwords.
You can assign various icons to your categories or passwords so you can remember that "This icon is for credit cards, this for banking, etc".
The program also offers a password generator and password strength rating system so that when typing a new password for a site, you can rate its bit strength. The more green, the better. This author recommends 128bit or higher (and with a program like this, its easier than ever, since you dont have to REMEMBER these passwords and can make them very complex).
Screencast of the password generator screen follows
http://crosscut.whaddu.com/DC/Keepass/PasswordGen.html <--- See here for a sample of the power of the password generator and bit strength indicator. This link contains a screencast of the password generator screen in action.
The program also offers a very powerful auto-type feature which allows you to send keystrokes to any application to automatically fill in username/password combinations to various things such as webpages, login boxes, etc. Just look at the help file of this app to see the power of this app.
See here for the help section of auto-type
http://crosscut.whaddu.com/DC/Keepass/AutoType.pdf
The needs improvement section
There are a few things this app does need improvement on. One of those is a proper auto-sort feature. You can auto-sort entries added to a category, but you cannot sort the categories themselves automatically. This is a small annoyance.
You have no ability to use the windows context menu key (WINDOWS APP KEY) to bring up the right click context menu on various entries. I realize this is cross platform, but I think the windows version could use this so that the keyboard oriented user could use the program without a mouse.
There is no way to drag/drop categories that have subcategories in them (I.E., you make a category (Finances) with a subcategory of (Credit Cards) that has entries in it, you cant drag/drop the whole MAIN category to another folder, you have to move the subcategories by themselves AFTER you create the new main category again.
There is no way to assign a DEFAULT ICON for new entries in a specific group. I.E., all credit card passwords have this icon, etc.
Conclusions
This is a very fine application which shows lots of promise. The functionality it has right now is very powerful and makes it very suitable for every day use. The improvements I listed above are not show stoppers, and only are a matter of prefernce for this reviewer. If you are in the market for a password manager, I highly recommend this application for managing your passwords.
This is Josh (The Shamurai), saying "Unix is user friendly, its just very picky who it's friends are".
mouser:
fantastic mini review!
program looks beautiful too.
Rover:
Oh dopey me... I use keypass at work to keep track of the many server passwords, windows license keys, etc. Never thought to do a cool mini-review like this. :-[
Keepass is da bomb.
jdd:
Nice review, Josh. I finally buckled down about two months ago and started tracking my passwords in a more organized fashion. KPS is what I have been using and it works great for me.
jgpaiva:
Fantastic, Josh!
This is the way to create great reviews! Congrats, you even made me feel willing to try the app out.
I only have 2 suggestions: The main url, http://keepass.sourceforge.net should be clickable (i don't know why it didn't happen), and the video url should mention it's a video.
Other than that, i love the review, and KeePass looks really interesting.
Thanks! :Thmbsup:
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