Quick Start
License Agreement
Appendices
| Site Licensees: "The University of Illinois has purchased site licenses of PasswordVault for their campuses at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Chicago (UIC) and Springfield (UIS). They chose a customized build of the software which was preregistered, had a backdrop utilizing their University's official colors and logo design, and which included extended desktop licensing (so staff and students could also use PasswordVault on their own home and laptop computers). The license was renewed in 2005 and again in 2006." Link... "The Regional Educational Media Center #1, located in Michigan state, is an organization whose role is to provide technology and instructional materials support to local school districts. They purchased an unlimited site license in July 2005, and PasswordVault currently assists them in managing around 500 services throughout their organization." Individual Users: "I did a lot research in selecting a password program and thought yours was REALLY good. I especially like the memory stick feature." -- A. Turley, ME, USA "Your programme is one of the best pieces of software I bought last year, so keep up the good work!" -- L. Poll, Surrey, UK "I just put PasswordVault upgrade Ver 5 on my computer and thank you. In fact, I almost did not change because Ver 4.3 already was working so great. I deleted V 4.3 ... and the subsequent installation of Ver 5 was foolproof. It picked up all the passwords without flaw, even though I had backed up the pv files for insurance. Most importantly, after several years use, I continue to think Lava Software has an outstanding product in PasswordVault. I would not go without it, especially with computer security ringing so critically important nowadays." -- J. Davidson, WA, USA "You folks are great and thank you for a great product. I love the ease of use and ability the product gives me in creating very strong password protection." -- K. Ruth, UT, USA "I have been a user of PasswordVault for years and I love the product. I use it daily and would be lost without it." -- M. Holloway, UT, USA "Thank you very much for first class customer service and product. Be sure that I will recommend your product!" -- J. Sorensen, Denmark. "Thanks for your great program. I'm telling all my friends with thumb drives." -- T. Lopez, VA, USA "Thanks for an excellent product." -- K. Focht, NV, USA "This is a great little tool." -- B. Wesson, CA, USA "This is what I have been waiting for!! I hate Gator!" -- C. A. Saunders, NH, USA "I love the Mac and I love your utility." -- D. Barsocchini, CA, USA "It is a very good program and one that is essential in these days of requiring harder, more robust passwords for adequate computer security." -- J. Davidson, WA, USA "Your product PasswordVault Lite 4.2 has been awarded by us with 5 stars and the SoftPedia Pick Award !" -- Softpedia |
Security
considerations
PasswordVault was designed from the ground up with security
in mind. All your information is protected by highly secure 896-bit
double-Blowfish
encryption, and the only time this information is in a form which can
be
easily accessed is when you are running PasswordVault. Even
if a hacker manages to access the data file which stores your
information, it cannot be read without knowing the master password or
by using
the master password recovery system.
PasswordVault
includes an automatic news system to inform users of software updates
and special offers, etc., and it can be enabled and disabled in the
preferences. We do offer a periodic email newletter, but
user email addresses do not generally offer a reliable, long term
method of reaching users with software update information. The HTTP GET
request made by PasswordVault during the news download process is only
performed when it is launched and, of course, does not include any user
service information stored inside PasswordVault. This HTTP GET request
also validates the runtime key.
Setting up multiple
users on the same computer
There are two primary ways for multiple users of PasswordVault to
securely access their own password information on the same computer.
The best way is to
create a user account for each user on the computer. This is done via
the operating system's control panels (eg. the User Accounts control panel on
Windows XP, and the Accounts
control panel on MacOS X). This method allows each user to have a
unique setup when they access the computer, such as their own desktop
layout, desktop background picture, browser bookmarks, email, etc.
Subsequently, when they run PasswordVault when logged into their own
user account, all the information in PasswordVault will be unique to
them. This is the recommended method, as it allows each user to also
run PasswordVault2Go off their USB drive and automatically synchronize
their data with that on the desktop computer.
If you have a
single user account on your computer which all users access, then when
one user changes any setting on the computer (such as the desktop
background picture), it affects all other users. This is not the best
way to set up your computer, but many families and small businesses use
this method.
In this case, the
primary user of the computer (for example, the person who uses it all
the time and/or who owns the computer) should run PasswordVault in the
normal way on the desktop, and run PasswordVault2Go in the normal way
off their USB drive. All other users should run PasswordVault2Go off
their USB drive (or other portable media). This allows these other
users to access their own password information when their USB drive is
plugged into the computer, as well as access it when they are on the
road. Of course, in this case, they will need to export their password
information regularly to back it up, since their data will not
automatically synchronize to the desktop installation (automatic
synchronization only works when the desktop and portable master
passwords are the same).
Choosing a
master password
When you launch PasswordVault for the first time, an empty Master Password Preferences dialog
will be displayed. This dialog is shown below in Figure 1, containing a sample master
password and some sample master password recovery clues.
The first step is
to choose and enter a master
password. Your choice of a good master password is important in
ensuring the
security of
your data. With PasswordVault, the master password is the only
password you need to remember, so it is a good idea to make it
reasonably long and include some numbers. For example, 'yukonmoose597'
is a good master password since it combines two unusual words and
includes numbers as well.
The Unmask Password button next to the
master password unmasks the password for 15 seconds. Thus, the master
password is usually hidden, protecting it from the view of anyone
looking over your shoulder.
The Help button is a custom build
option, and thus not visible in the mainstream version of
PasswordVault. Pressing this button displays a specified web page which
contains organization-specific information about PasswordVault, such as
advice about selecting a good master password.
Setting
up Master Password Recovery
The 'Master Password Recovery' system is a powerful and unique feature
of PasswordVault, which allows you to
recover elegantly if you ever forget your master password. Forgetting a
master password is relatively easy to do. This can occur, for example,
if you go for a holiday and don't use your master password for a few
weeks. Maybe you chose a particularly complex master password and one
day you accidently transpose two numbers in the password. Without the
master password recovery system built into PasswordVault, you
would have lost you data forever!!!
The master password
recovery system works by allowing you to enter a series of personal
questions (ie. clues), to which only you know the answers. Any number
of
clues can be used, so you can make the recovery system at least as
secure as the master password itself - the more clues used, the better
the security. You should use clues which have very exact, explicit
answers, which will never change. For example, 'What was my puppy's
name
when I was 6?' is a good clue, because it is something you will
probably
never forget and which very few people would know. An example of a poor
clue is, 'Who is my best friend?'. The answer may change over time,
thus affecting successful recovery (ie. you may enter what you think is
the correct answer, but it may not be what you originally entered).
Setting up master password recovery is easy and is highly recommended
for all users - if you forget your master password and do not have
the master password recovery system set up, you have permanently lost
the data
stored inside PasswordVault! On the other hand, if you have set
up master password recovery, you just need to answer some simple
questions to get back to the main screen. From there, you can
re-familiarize yourself with your master password or change it to
something else.
To add a new clue,
enter the question in the Question
textbox and the answer in the Answer textbox.
Then press the Add Clue button
to add it to the list.
To update a clue,
select it in the list and it will be placed in the top textboxes. Make
any
changes you wish and then press the Update
Clue button to update the clue in the
list. Then press the Save
button to save the list of
clues.
The compact form of
the Main Window (shown below
in Figure 3,
containing a sample 'Hotmail' service) is a great way to make
your information easily accessible for
any application whilst using the absolute minimum amount of screen
area. It floats above all windows of all applications on the screen (on
all platform versions, except on Linux).
Figure 3. The compact form of the Main Window (Win32, MacOS X)
Adding a new
service
A service is simply
a username, password, web address and other information linked to a
service name. For example, you might add a service to PasswordVault
called 'Hotmail', with a username of 'mpotter', a
password of 'grootburger' and a web address of 'www.hotmail.com'.
You can create
a new service by pressing the Add
Service
button
on the
main window - the Add Service
dialog (shown below in Figure 4)
will be displayed.
Enter the service name, select the service category and subcategory
from the groupbox
menu
(or type new category/subcategory names into the comboboxes),
enter the username, password and web address (if applicable). You
can also add additional notes, if required. You can change the type of
service using the 'Username' and 'Password' title popup menus. For
example, if you are entering Internet banking information, you might
select 'Account No' and 'PIN' from these title popup menus.
Advanced Shortcut:
Hold down the 'Ctrl' key when pressing the Plus button to open the Add Service dialog with the password
already unmasked for 15 seconds. You can then type in the password on
the Add Service dialog and see
it as you type it. This shortcut is for advanced users who wish to add
a number of services quickly.
You
can also drag and drop the URL text from a web browser (eg.
'http://google.com') directly onto the URL
Dropbox on the global floating window (the target on Figure 3 above). Alternatively, you
can copy
URL text into the clipboard and right click the URL Dropbox to paste it in. Doing
this will open
the Add Service dialog (shown
below in Figure 5), fill
the Web Address textbox with
the URL
text, and set the category to 'Bookmark'. PasswordVault will also load
the page associated with the web bookmark, and try to extract it's
title, to use as the service name.
Figure 6. The Add Service dialog, showing a 'Textclip' being added
If you wish to
create separate category groups for different locations (eg. work and
home), you can do this by placing a prefix on the basic category name.
For example, 'Home-Banking' and 'Work-Banking', 'Home-Network' and
'Work-Network', etc. This makes it clear which location the category
refers to. You might also use a prefix if you need the same basic
category name for different company environments eg. 'UDV-Vendor
sites', 'Megatronic-Vendor sites', etc. A company may use two (or more)
levels of subcategory, such as 'UDV-Network', 'UDV-Vendor sites',
'UDV-Email Accounts', etc. to segregate category groups.
In addition to
category groups, you may wish to use the above techique to logically
group service names. Example service names for a company may be:
'UDV-Email-jbloggs', 'UDV-NetAdmin-Login Server 1', etc. This has the
added advantage that service names are unique across a large set of
users, so password auto-distribution will work cohesively.
You can change the
name of a category on the Preferences
dialog at any time, and all services in that category will also be
moved to the new category.
Note: The maximum length of category
names is 30 characters, and the maximum length of service names is 60
characters.
The Unmask Password button (next to the Password textbox) unmasks the password for 15 seconds. Thus, the password is usually hidden, protecting it from the view of anyone looking over your shoulder.
To generate a
random password, press the Generate
Password button (this button is shown as two linked cogs). A
high-quality password conforming to the type (alphanumeric, numeric or
hexadecimal) and size set on the Preferences
dialog will be generated and
placed in the Password textbox.
When the
information is complete, press the Save
button
to save the information - the service will now be added to the Service Selection popup menu on the
main window, and the Add Service
dialog will be cleared
(ready for you to enter information for a new service). This automatic
clearing after saving makes it easier and faster to enter a list of
services.
To return to the
main window, press the Cancel button.
To use the auto-fill function with automatic submission, you must select Timed Paste as the Username/Password Transfer method on the Preferences dialog. This is because timed paste works by simulating key presses. For example, pressing the Password button on the global floating window actually copies the password data from PasswordVault into the clipboard, and then simulates a keyboard paste operation (ie. 'Ctrl-v' on Windows, 'Command-v' on MacOS X). By including the special characters, ' # ' (ie. space hash space), in the Username textbox on the Add Service dialog, pressing of the 'Tab' key can be simulated - this key is used by Web browsers to move the cursor to the next textbox or control.
For example,
signing into a GMail account means you need to enter the username,
press the 'Tab' key, enter the password and press the 'Enter/Return'
key. Thus, to set up auto-fill for GMail (assuming your username is
'mpotter' and password is 'phoenix12'), bring up the Add Service dialog and enter the
username, 'mpotter # ', and the password 'phoenix12' (we assume you
have already checked the Auto-Enter
Key Press checkbox in the preferences). That's it!!!
Figure 7. Auto-fill used on a GMail
login screen
Now when you want
to sign into GMail, press the Go To
Web Address button on the global floating window to open the
GMail Web page in your browser, and once it's loaded, click the Username button on PasswordVault and
then immediately position the cursor into the 'Username' textbox on the
Web page (ie. before the timed paste operation starts). PasswordVault
will then auto-fill and submit the Web page in one streamlined
operation.
Advanced Shortcut: On MacOS X, you can
set the paste timer to 0 seconds in the PasswordVault preferences, and
then simply position the cursor in the Web form and press the Username or Password
button on PasswordVault and wait. The information will still be pasted
in correctly.
Important Note:
It's a good idea to test out the auto-fill of a new service you are
adding by first unchecking the Auto-Enter
Key Press
checkbox (or use the advanced shortcut below) and then testing the
auto-fill information you have created. Some Websites limit the number
of login retries before they
lock out the user, and you probably want to avoid that.
On services like
GMail, eBay, etc., it's a good idea not to check the Remember
me on this computer or Keep
me signed in checkboxes on the Web page (see Figure 8 below). If you share your
computer with another user and they go to these websites, they will be
logged into your account automatically, and thus have access to your
online account. You should always log out of these accounts when you're
finished with them, to ensure the next user has to log in properly.
If there is more
than two textboxes on a Web page to fill in, you can place additional
information in the Username
textbox in PasswordVault, separated by the special ' # ' combination.
In the example below in Figure 9,
there are 3 sets of information which need to be entered. In this case
(assuming
your 'Card/Access Number' is '73856583855', 'Security Number' is '7844'
and 'Internet Password' is 'jdugh7d7'), bring up the Add Service dialog and enter the
username, '73856583855 # 7844 # ', and the password 'jdugh7d7'.
Figure 9. Auto-fill used with an
online banking account
Now when you want
to sign into your Internet bank, press the Go To Web Address button on the
global floating window to open the bank's Web page in your browser, and
once it's loaded, click the Username
button on PasswordVault and then immediately position the cursor into
the 'Card/Access Number' textbox on the Web page. PasswordVault will
then
auto-fill and submit the Web page in one streamlined operation ie. it
will paste in '73856583855', simulate pressing the 'Tab' key, paste in
the 'Security Number', simulate pressing the 'Tab' key, paste in the
'Internet
Password', and simulate pressing the 'Enter/Return' key.
Note: On some banking Web pages,
textboxes may only accept a specific number of characters, so you
should remove any spaces in the text to ensure the form gets filled in
properly.
Sometimes other controls, such as popup menus, may be selected when you are trying to auto-fill textboxes on a Web page. The example in Figure 10 shows this type of problem. In this case, placing one special ' # ' combination at the end of the username will 'Tab' the browser to the '@bigpond.com' popup menu, rather than the 'Password' textbox. In this case (assuming your username is 'mpotter' and password is 'phoenix12'), bring up the Add Service dialog and enter the username, 'mpotter # # ', and the password 'phoenix12'. Note that there are two 'Tab' keys simulated between the username and password, and thus when you trigger an auto-fill, the cursor will jump over the popup menu and correctly fill the 'Password' textbox.
Figure 10. Auto-fill used when other
controls are present
Important Note: If you don't want a simulated press of the 'Enter/Return' key done after a timed paste auto-fill occurs, though you have the Auto-Enter Key Press checkbox checked in the preferences (eg. there may still be textboxes in which you need to enter information on an order form, or popup menus you need to select from), leave out the ' # ' at the end of the username. In this case, the auto-fill will stop after all the data in the username has been entered into the form ie. the password won't be auto-pasted and the simulated pressing of the 'Enter/Return' key press won't occur. For example, in the banking auto-fill shown in Figure 9, if the username was set to '73856583855 # 7844' (instead of '73856583855 # 7844 # '), auto-fill will stop after filling in the 'Security Number'. In this case, you will need to position the cursor in the last textbox and click the Password button to paste in the last piece of information, and press the 'Enter/Return' key to submit the form.
Of course, you can
set a service to auto-fill as many textboxes as you like - even entire
order forms you regularly complete, including credit card details, etc.
If there are textboxes which should be bypassed because you need to
enter specific information into them (eg. product selections), just put
in a double 'Tab' ie. ' # # '. This will skip a textbox without pasting
anything into it and move to the next one.
With a bit of
experimentation, you should be able to auto-fill almost any Web form.
The good thing is, once you've got auto-fill set up for a particular
service, logging into that service becomes very streamlined.
Note: On MacOS X, if you place the
cursor on the Web form first and then click the Username button on PasswordVault,
the auto-fill will work even if you have set a 0 second timeout time.
This is an excellent way to use timed paste on this platform. For
example, logging into GMail is as simple as pressing the Go To Web button to open the GMail
web page and then pressing the Username
button to auto-fill and submit. That's it!!! Google set up their login
web pages for maximum ease of use, always placing the cursor in the
'Username' field as soon as the page loads.
Note: You can't set up PasswordVault
to automatically select from popup menus, set or clear checkboxes,
etc., on web forms during an auto-paste sequence - only textboxes can
be auto-filled. If you wish to auto-fill and auto-submit this type of
web form, you first need to set these other controls and then trigger
the auto-fill on PasswordVault.
Note: If you set up
multiple text items in the Username
textbox for auto-fill but then select a Username/Password
Transfer
method other than 'Timed Paste' on the Preferences dialog, such as 'Copy To
Clipboard', only the first text item will be copied to the clipboard.
Editing a
service
To edit an existing service, first select it from the service selection
popup menu on the main window. Then press the Edit Service button to display the Edit Service dialog (shown below in Figure 11). Make any necessary
changes and then press the Update button.
You will be returned to the main window immediately.
Advanced Shortcut: Hold down the 'Ctrl' key when pressing the Star button to open the Edit Service dialog with the password already unmasked for 15 seconds. You can then check the password as soon as the Edit Service dialog is displayed. This shortcut is for advanced users who wish to edit a number of services quickly.
The Unmask Password button (next to the Password textbox) unmasks the password for 15 seconds. Thus, the password is usually hidden, protecting it from the view of anyone looking over your shoulder.
Figure 11. The Edit Service dialog
Every time you
update service information (ie. using the Edit Service dialog), such as
changing the password or adding a
web address, a time/date stamp is made on the service data. If you
subsequently import this newer service data on another computer, it
will replace any existing older service data stored under the same
service name. In this way, you can
easily synchronize the service data on a number of computers. This is
especially useful on a home or office network.
Note: All unused categories are
automatically removed when PasswordVault is next launched.
Removing a
service
To remove an existing service, first select it from the service
selection popup menu on the main window. Then press the Remove Service button to remove it. The Remove Service Confirmation alert
shown in Figure 12 below will
be
displayed. Confirm the removal and the service will be deleted from
the service selection popup menu.
Figure 12. The Remove Service Confirmation alert
Note: When you remove a service, it
actually blanks out the service information, timestamps the service and
hides it. If you subsequently synchronize your passwords with
PasswordVault2Go, or create an auto-export which is auto-imported by
other users (ie. distribute an update via the auto-distribution
system), the removed service will also be removed from these downstream
password collections as well. This method ensures that a removed
service does not simply get restored again after the next
synchronization. If a new service is subsequently added with the name
of the removed service, it overwrites the previously removed service
and correctly propagates to downstream password collections again.
Advanced
Tip: To permanently delete all services previously
marked as removed (and thus hidden), hold down the Control (Ctrl) and
Shift keys and press the Cross
button. You'll hear a beep confirming the permanent deletion.
Accessing
service information
Selecting a category from the Service
Category popup menu will show a list of services in the
category, sorted alphabetically. Select the service from the Service Selection popup menu at the
top right of the window, and the
username, password and notes for this service will be displayed on
the main window. This is basically how services are accessed, though
additional filters (subcategories, service types, and searching by
service name) can help find services faster.
If a service
category has subcategories, clicking the SubCategory popup menu will display
them. In Figure 13 below, the
'Bookmark' category has been selected, and the 'Home Selection'
subcategory shows a number of lower level subcategories. Selecting a
subcategory will store it in 'Recent Subcategories' for easy
reselection, as shown at the top of the subcategory list in Figure 13 below. As you can see, two
levels of subcategory can be set in each category, giving you deep
control over the grouping of services.
If you want all services to be listed in the Service Selection popup menu, select 'All' from the Service Category popup menu. This 'All' setting is very useful when used in conjunction with the Search textbox, since only services beginning with the entered search text will be displayed.
Figure 13. Selecting a
subcategory of the 'Bookmark' category
You can type text into the Search textbox (in the top center of the window in Figure 14 below) to only show services whose names start with those letters. Placing the wildcard character, '%', at the start of the search text will return all results which the substring matches eg. entering '%foru' will return all services containing the text 'foru' somewhere in their name, such as 'Kenbushi user forum', 'Yahoo forum', etc.
You can also select
only certain types of services, such as 'Web Logins', 'Bookmarks',
'Textclips' or
'Others', using the Service Type
popup menu (on the left side of the SubCategory
popup menu). Selecting 'Show All' shows all services,
irrespective of type.
To sort the
displayed services in various ways, use the Sort By popup menu, located on the
right side of the Service Selection
popop menu. You can sort services alphabetically, by most used, or by
recently used.
Figure 14. The main window with a
service selected and displayed (Win32, MacOS X)
If there is a web
address set for this service, you can press the Go To Web Address button (on the top
left side) and your
web browser will immediately load in the correct web page from the
Internet. If no web address is set, this button will not be visible.
Advanced Tip: You can copy the web address into the clipboard (rather than telling your default web browser to go to it) by holding down the Control (Ctrl) key whilst pressing the Go To Web Address button. You can then paste the URL into an alternate web browser or other application. Some websites (such as banking websites) only support particular web browsers, so you may need to use an alternate web browser to access it.
You can either
press the Username
button (the little man) or
Password
button (the glass dot) to
copy the respective information into the clipboard, ready to paste in
where required on the web page, or manually type in the username and
password where required for the service (ie. in textboxes on a web page
requesting your username and password).
Username/password
transfer methods other than Copy To
Clipboard are also available, including Drag And Drop (click and hold the
mouse button down on the Username
or Password button and drag it
to the Web form) and Timed Paste
(the username and password information is auto-pasted after the
selected delay time). Timed Paste
mode is also used by the powerful Auto-fill
Web form feature in PasswordVault. The Username/Password Transfer method to
be used can be
set in the preferences (see Figure 15
below).
You can also copy text into the clipboard from the additional notes area, if required.
Organizing services
Once you're added a number of services, you'll probably want to get
them organized into categories to make it easier to find them or to
group together services for a particular purpose. For example, there
may be a group of services (login information, web bookmarks,
textclips, etc.) which relate to your work, games, financial services,
news, banking, etc. that you wish to keep together. PasswordVault makes
it easier to move services between categories and get them organized.
This is done using the Organize
Services dialog (see the example in Figure 15 below), which can be
displayed by pressing the Organize
Services button on the main window (centre bottom in Figure 14).
Note: When organizing web bookmarks,
an additional two levels of subcategories are available. This level of
subcategorization is needed when you're trying to effectively manage
the 1000s of bookmarks most active Internet users accumulate over time.
Figure 15. The Organize Services dialog
To display the
services in a particular category, click the category (in the Category panel on the far left) and
they will be displayed in the rightmost Services panel. If you highlight a
service, some information about the service will be shown on the bottom
of the window, including it's category and subcategories, web link (if
there is one) and the last time the service was used. Clicking on the
web link will immediately launch your web browser and load the page
associated with the link, so you can view it.
You can also
instantly filter the displayed services using the Service Name Search textbox at the
top right side of the dialog. Enter a few letters of the start of a
service name, and only services starting with those letters will be
displayed. Enter a leading percentage symbol ('%'), and any service
names containing the entered characters in any part of the name will be
found. This search function allows you to find services easily, even
from amongst 1000s of web bookmarks.
When displaying web
bookmarks, you can select a service and delete it by pressing the Delete Service button on the bottom
of the panel (the small '-' sign). Thus, old web bookmarks can be
easily removed.
To change a
category or subcategory name, highlight it and then click it again to
enter edit mode. Make the changes and then click elsewhere on the
dialog and the name will be set. When a category name is editable, the
cursor will change to an 'I-Beam' text editing cursor when the cursor
is positioned above it. Categories which cannot be edited will show a
normal selection arrow even when the cursor is positioned above it.
To create a new category or subcategory, press the respective Add Category button underneath any of the category panels (the small '+' sign). A new entry will be added to the respectivepanel, which you can then rename to the new category name you want.
If you add a
category or subcategory and subsequently don't move a service to it,
the category or subcategory will be automatically deleted when you next
relaunch PasswordVault. Thus, there is no need to delete category names.
Preferences
The Preferences dialog (see Figure 16 below) is displayed when
you select Preferences... from
the
menu on the main window.
Figure 16. The Prefences dialog
Skins are used for the backdrop of the main window, allowing you to
personalize PasswordVault to your tastes. To choose a skin,
simply
select it the Skin popup menu
- the main window backdrop will update immediately with the new skin.
Several styles are
available from the Button Style
popup menu, allowing you to choose the one you prefer. The 'Win32'
button style is consistent with Windows graphics, whilst 'Aqua' is a
style which many MacOS X users may like. The 'Sketch' button style is
an interesting casual art style for all platforms. As soon as you
select a button style, buttons on the main window are changed, so you
can easily see what they look like in use.
Note: Customized versions of PasswordVault (such as those created especially for site licensees) do not support additional skins, but have a fixed 'Custom' skin.
Check the Master Passwords checkbox to have
passwords on the main window replaced by asterixes. This prevents
others from seeing your passwords if you have the main window expanded.
The Auto-Lock Time
is the time (in seconds) from the last activity before the automatic
lock is activated, and this can be set by entering a number between 20
and
1800 (ie. 1800 seconds = 30 minutes) in the textbox. Enter '0' to
disable the auto-lock function. You
can also lock PasswordVault manually by pressing the Lock button on the main window.
To rename a service
category, select it from the popup menu and it's name will be
entered in the textbox. Change the category name in the textbox and
then press
the Rename button to rename
the category to the new name entered.
The password
generator can be customized by selecting the type of password to
generate and it's size. Select 'Alphanumeric' if you want passwords to
contain uppercase (A-Z) and lowercase (a-z) characters as well as
numbers (0-9). Select 'Numeric' if you just want numbers included, and
select 'Hexadecimal' to include only hexadecimal characters (0-9, A-F).
Passwords from 1-1000 characters can be generated by typing a size into
the Size textbox. Thus, you
can generate and store large, unique
hexadecimal encryption keys in PasswordVault, which can be used in
other encryption products, such as file encrypters.
Transfers of
username and password information from PasswordVault into your Web
browser (or other application) can be made in several
ways.
Copy To Clipboard simply copies the
username or password into the clipboard when the Username or Password
button, respectively, is pressed. You can then paste it into the
correct position on the Web page.
Selecting Drag And Drop allows you to drag the
username or password directly from the Username
or Password button,
respectively, to the correct position on the Web page. You may need
to place the cursor in the appropriate textbox on the Web page before
dragging.
Timed Paste will wait the specified
number of seconds after the Username
or Password button is pressed,
before performing an automatic paste operation. To
use this method, press the button and then place the cursor in the
appropriate textbox, ready for the automatic paste.
You can set up
services in PasswordVault to auto-fill Web forms using the Timed Paste method. This advanced
feature greatly simplifies entry into Websites protected by a login
screen. Setting up a service to use this feature is quite simple, and
the way data is entered can be fully tailored to the login screen. The
'Return/Enter' key can even be automatically pressed after the timed
paste (ie. to submit the pasted information), if you check the Auto-Enter Key Press checkbox on the
Preferences dialog. See Adding a new service above for further
information.
Note: The Linux version of PasswordVault only supports the Copy To Clipboard method.
You can control if PasswordVault automatically gets the latest news on launch with the Get Latest News On Launch checkbox. If you uncheck this checkbox, you can manually check for PasswordVault program updates and special offers by selecting Get Latest News... from the Help menu.
On Windows
2000/XP/Vista and MacOS X, the global floating window
can be made up to 60% transparent, thus allowing the windows underneath
it to be viewed. The floating window loses transparency when the mouse
pointer passes across it, so that it can be used easily when needed. To
set the amount of transparency, set the Transparency slider from 0% to 60%
(0% transparency means the window will be fully opaque, which is the
default setting).
Positioning
the main window
It is recommended that the main PasswordVault be contracted and
placed on the top right-hand-side of the screen. In this way, you can
easily access the service selection popup menu as well as the
copy-to-clipboard buttons, whilst requiring very little screen area.
Entering
your master password
When you
launch PasswordVault (and have set a master password), you will see the
dialog
in Figure 17 displayed. If
master
password recovery has been set up, the Recovery
button
(the Key) will also be
visible. If
the Recovery button is
not visible, it means that master password recovery has not been
set up and is not available.
Enter your master
password and press the Enter button
to display the main PasswordVault window. If you get the master
password wrong, you can try again. If you have forgotten your master
password, press the Recovery
button to begin master password
recovery. The dialog shown in Figure
18
will then be displayed.
Figure 18. The Recover Master Password dialog
Simply enter the
answer to each question in the Answer
textbox
and press the Next >>
button. After you have worked through the series of questions and
answers, the main window will be displayed. If you can't remember the
answer to a particular question, think about it for a while before
trying again. If you cannot remember either the master password or the
answers to the questions for master password recovery, you cannot
access
the service information stored inside PasswordVault.
If you can't
recover, you should quit PasswordVault and move the 'Prefs.txt'
file (in the PasswordVault preferences folder - see the FAQ) to a safe place on your hard disk (such
as a backup folder) and then run PasswordVault again. Your
master
password will now be cleared, in addition to your previous service
information. The 'Prefs.txt' file contains your master password,
master password recovery information and service data.
If you have
previously backed up your service data using the export function in
PasswordVault (possibly in PV
tab-text file
format, a clear text format without a master password), you can import
this data file and your service
data will be recovered.
Figure 19. The Export dialog (PV data file format)
When exporting in PasswordVault (PV data) format, the exported file is encrypted and is thus safe to store anywhere. You can choose which categories you want to include in the exported file, and you can also change the master password stored with the data. If the master password you include is different to your normal master password, your master password recovery clues will be excluded from the exported file. See Using PasswordVault in large organizations for further information about using this feature.
When exporting in PasswordVault (tab-text)
format (see Figure 20 below),
the service data is exported in clear tab-text format with the field
order displayed in the Fields Included
listbox. This file format is compatible to version 2.x of PasswordVault
and is basically provided for legacy compatibility to the
older version. It is recommended that you use the PV data file format described above,
as it provides protection from hackers via its strong encryption.
Figure 20. The Export dialog (PV tab-text file
format)
When exporting in PasswordWallet (tab-text) format (see Figure 21 below), the service data is exported in clear tab-text format with the field order displayed in the Fields Included listbox. This file format is compatible to 'PasswordWallet', a program available to users of MacOS.
Figure 21. The Export dialog (PW tab-text file format)
When exporting in Printable (text file)
format (see Figure 22 below),
the service data is exported in a clear text format with the field
order displayed in the Fields Included
listbox. This text file can then be printed off on your printer and
filed as a hardcopy reference of your password information.
Figure 22. The Export dialog (Printable tab-text
file format)
When exporting in Custom (tab-text) format (see Figure 23 below), you can select which fields to include in the exported file, as well as the order of the fields. This allows you to export your data in any format you like. You can also include a blank (or filler) field in the exported data as well. The custom export option is for advanced users only.
Figure 23. The Export dialog (Custom tab-text format)
Note: Please keep in mind that
files exported in tab-text format are unencrypted, and they should be
deleted immediately after you have backed up the text file,
printed out your service data (by opening the text file in a word
processor and then subsequently printing it), or transferred and
imported the text file to another computer. This will ensure maximum
protection of your service data from hackers.
Importing service
data
To import a service data file, press the Import button on the main window or
select Import... from the File menu.
The dialog shown in Figure 24
below will be displayed. Use the File
Format popup menu to select the
format of the file you want to import. You can import data in either
encrypted PV data format, or in several clear
(unencrypted) tab-text formats (ie. tab characters delimit the various
fields in each service record).
Figure 24. The Import dialog (PV data file format)
When importing in PasswordVault (PV data)
format, enter the master password of the file you wish to import and
then press the Import button
to select the file to be imported.
If the master password you entered matches the master password in
the file, the data will be imported and a message will be displayed
showing how many services were updated and added (see Figure 25 below). This information
is also added to the distribution log, so you can refer to it at any
later time.
If you press the
disclosure triangle at the bottom of the Import Complete dialog, more
detailed information will be displayed, including the service's
category and name, as well as the date on which the service was
originally added or updated. This allows you to track changes to
service information. Pressing the Copy
To Clipboard button will copy the text in the textbox to the
clipboard, so you can paste it into any text document editor.
Figure 25. The Import Complete dialog
When importing in PasswordVault (tab-text) format (see Figure 26 below), the service data is imported in clear tab-text format with the field order displayed in the Fields Included listbox. This file format is compatible to version 2.x of PasswordVault and is basically provided for legacy compatibility to the older version. It is recommended that you use the PV data file format described above, as it provides protection from hackers via its strong encryption.
Figure 26. The Import dialog (PV tab-text file format)
When importing in PasswordWallet (tab-text) format (see Figure 27 below), the service data is imported in clear tab-text format with the field order displayed in the Fields Included listbox. This file format is compatible to 'PasswordWallet™', a program available to users of MacOS. To export your data from PasswordWallet, simply select Export to Text File... from the File menu when running PasswordWallet.
Figure 27. The Import dialog (PasswordWallet tab-text file format)
When importing in Password Depot (csv-text)
format (see Figure 28 below),
the service data is imported in clear csv-text format with the field
order displayed in the Fields Included
listbox. This file format is compatible to 'Password Depot', a program
available to users of Windows. To export your data from Password Depot,
select Export list... from the
Tools menu when running
Password Depot.
Then set the Save as
Type to Comma separated file
(*.csv).
Figure 28. The Import dialog (Password Depot
csv-text file
format)
When importing in Custom (tab, csv-text) format (see Figure 29 below), you can select
which fields to include in the imported file, the order of
the fields, and the character used to separate the fields (' ; ' - semicolon, ' , ' - comma, <tab> - horizontal tab
[control-code 9], or ' | ' -
bar). This allows you to import your data in any format you like.
Important Note:
PasswordVault now performs an automatic backup of your service data
before performing a manual import. This
ensures that if anything goes
wrong with the import, that you can easily restore the service data you
had
previously. This automatic backup is stored in the Backup folder inside the
PasswordVault preferences folder. To open the PasswordVault preferences
folder, hold down the
Control (Ctrl)
and Shift keys while
selecting Preferences... from
the menu when running PasswordVault. You will then find a
folder named 'PC-Mac PasswordVault v2.x' opened on the desktop. To
restore a backup file, quit PasswordVault and copy the backup file into
the 'PC-Mac PasswordVault 2.x' preferences folder. Then move the
existing 'Prefs.txt' file somewhere safe, and rename the backup file to
'Prefs.txt'. When you next
launch PasswordVault, it will use this file.
You can clear out
the automatic backup files (to make more space on your hard drive), by
selecting Clear Auto-Backup Files
from the File menu. Generally,
backup files are only about 30k in size, so it shouldn't be necessary
to clear them very often.
The service name, username and password items are required fields (these items cannot be deselected). To include any other fields, however, simply check the checkbox on it's left side. Note: If a field is not checked, it will not be included, even if it is located near the top of the listbox, and other included fields surround it.
The type of data that
can be successfully imported is now quite extensive. You can include a Blank item to ignore a
particular field in the data, and there are 6 Blank items available for
this purpose. There are also 6 Add
to Notes
items available. This item is incredibly useful as it allows you to
bundle any data you wish to keep, and which doesn't properly correlate
with another field type, into the Notes for the service. For
example, a field may contain entries such as Street Address, Email Address, Card Number, Description, Mobile Phone, ICQ, etc. Using an Add To Notes item for these fields
will correctly bundle this information into the Notes section of the service.
To change the order
of the fields, simply drag them up or down the listbox until they are
in the order you want.
The Separator popup menu allows you to select a number of separator character types. Most files in .csv format which can be imported actually use the ' ; ' character to separate fields, even though CSV means 'Comma-Separated Value' (CSV files are a common format used for database data interchange).
Hint: You can easily examine the
record format of the text file you are trying to import by opening the
text
file using a text editor. You should then be able to see how many
fields are included in each record, their size, order and location, and
what
field separator (ie. the spacer character placed between fields) is
being used. The field separator is most often the 'horizontal tab'
character, which is control-code 9 in the ASCII table. You can
also then 'massage' the data using the text editor eg. remove the first
line if it contains the field names, convert an unusual separator to a
' ; ' (semicolon) or ' | ' (bar) separator using a global
search-and-replace on the text file (so
it will import correctly into PasswordVault), or break the text file
into pieces and import each piece separately (this may be necessary if
the field order is different in different parts of the original import
file).
For example,
suppose you
are trying to import the following data:
The field order in
this case that you would probably set in the Fields Included listbox is:
Name, Username,
Password, Web Address, Add To Notes, Blank, Category, Add to Notes
After you have
completed the import, be sure to check that the data imported
correctly. You can check what services were imported by opening the
distribution log by selecting Open
Distribution Log... from the File
menu. This log shows the names of all the services which were imported,
the categories they were placed in, and the update date associated with
the service. Thus, you can always remove these services, if you need to.
In some password managers, you can set which fields are included in an export file, as well as the field separator character - this allows you to export in a format which can then be imported easily by PasswordVault. For example, with Password Manager XP, a program available to users of Windows, you can Export to file..., set the Columns data delimiter to ' ; ', and then Export chosen columns (eg. Title, User name, URL, Description, and Password would correlate to the Name, Username, Web Address, Add To Notes and Password items in a custom PasswordVault importer).
Note: If a mandatory field (such as Username) is blank, it will
automatically be filled with a default value, to ensure the data is
imported in a usable form.
| Column Title |
Column Description |
| Name |
Name
of the service |
| Username |
Username
(for a login) |
| Password |
Password
(for a login) |
| WebAddress |
URL
linked to the service |
| Ignore |
Ignore
this column |
| AddToNotes |
Appends
column to notes |
| Category |
Category
or group |
If you wish to
create separate category groups for different locations (eg. work and
home),
you can do this by adding a prefix to the basic category name. For
example, 'Home-Banking' and 'Work-Banking', 'Home-Network' and
'Work-Network', etc. This makes it clear which location the category
refers to. You might also use a prefix if you need the same basic
category name for different company environments eg. 'UDV-Vendor
sites', 'Megatronic-Vendor sites', etc. A company may use two (or more)
levels of subcategory, such as 'UDV-Network','UDV-Vendor sites',
'UDV-Email Accounts', etc. to segregate category groups.
