OpenDNS, KeePass, AppRocket

[duragezic]

I think I seen these programs, among others, recommended in Popular Science or some magazine. They caught my eye so I wrote them down and checked out the webpages.

OpenDNS <-- not a program, just DNS servers.

KeePass Password Safe

AppRocket


Does anyone use these programs? They are all free. I'm at work so I can't install them, but have a couple questions about them.

OpenDNS: I'm not exactly sure if this is useful or not. Is it kind of like free proxy servers? I read those were no good. But this seems alright, I just don't understand the motivation other than "faster, safer, better". Are my ISPs DNS servers really that bad?

KeePass might be useful as I currently have ALL of my password/login information in a .txt or .html file. Not secure, at all. But in a HTML file, I can simply open that up and take advantage of Firefox Find As You Type, so even if they are unsorted, I can find any login info in a couple of seconds. Is KeePass that fast and accessible? If I could keep that kind of speed but have some security, that would be great.

AppRocket: This originally caught my eye, but from the animated picture, I'm not sure if would be all that useful. They also make MediaTrain. I'm not sure if this is more like the new Windows Search in Vista or like Google Desktop, neither which I care to use as I know where everything is on my computer. But anything that can speed up accessibility is nice... just I don't need a search so to speak. Anyone use it?

 

[porcorosso]

Not familiar with the other two, but I can recommend KeePass very highly. I think that you should be able to adjust to working with it pretty easily. Of course your working habits would have to change to accommodate the fact that you would now be working with a system which stores your username / password information securely. But KeePass makes it pretty easy to arrive at a workable solution for just about anyone. Its features are highly configurable.

At base it can be used almost as a "favorites" or "bookmarks" list in that URLs are listed as items in the database. You right-click on the item to which you want access and select "open URL". The browser opens at the site, your right-click on the item and choose copy user name to clipboard. Switch back to the browser and paste it in. Switch back to KeePass and right-click/select copy password to clipboard, etc.

Yeah, it's a few mouse-clicks, but it provides a lot more security than an unencrypted list. And the software itself is really well done.

You might as well give it a shot. It's not invasive. It's easy to learn to use. If you don't like it you can always toss it off your system.

If AppRocket works as well as advertised, then it probably works about the way Vista's search function works. I never navigate the Start menu or search for files with a mouse these days. I hit the Windows key, type a couple of letters, and then strike the old Enter key. It works very well in Vista, but I have no idea about AppRocket.

 

[Hurricane Andrew]

KeePass is awesome. There is also a portable version that runs entirely from a USB stick.

I use OpenDNS servers when I can. I don't think you'll see much of a difference, but one nice thing is that there DNS servers will pick up on some typos in a url, say you type in www.yhaoo.com by mistake, it will direct you to www.yahoo.com instead, so there's less worry about phishing sites, etc. Also, they keep a record of and block known phishing sites. I'd give it a try if you can.