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Whisper password manager In this computing guide, Kai Chandler looks at a neat password manager called Whisper 32 A recent Computing Guide on managing your passwords referred to a free program to help with password management called Whisper 32. It’s never been easy to manage the variety of passwords that you may need to access different internet services and computer files so any secure mechanism to make it easier has to be worth a look. Just remember a single password! The idea behind Whisper 32 is that you only have to remember one password – that’s the one to open up your password list in Whisper 32. Once open, you can record all your passwords, generate new passwords randomly and jump straight to a web address.
To get started, just download and install Whisper 32 from our Top Downloads page Run Whisper 32 and press the Insert key to enter the first record. There’s also a padlock icon on the toolbar to do the same thing. Enter: · Service name, eg. BarcWest online banking · User name eg. johnsmith · Password eg. pass21word · Notes – the first line of the notes should be the address of the service eg. www.BarcWest.co.uk/login. You can add any other notes you wish to use. When complete select OK and your password is stored. Select Save As from the File menu to save your important password file in a directory where it will be backed up regularly eg. C:\mydata\passwordfile Remember to add any other passwords and you can then tear up all those little scraps of paper containing scribbled passwords.
The Computing Guide on managing your passwords gave a number of tips for dreaming up secure passwords, but Whisper has a random password generator that will make your passwords very obscure. To use this feature, press the Generate button on the entry screen. You’ll be prompted for a variety of characteristics such as password length, case and format. These are often determined by your service provider.
Accessing a service Once you have set up a record in whisper, it’s simple to use. When online, just select the record for the service you wish to use, then select Open URL from the Edit menu (or press control-H or select the appropriate icon on the toolbar) and Whisper will call up a browser window and take you to the address specified in the first line of the notes. You can then copy and paste the username and passwords from Whisper into the browser window. You’ll never need to type that password again! Backup regularly These passwords are stored in a data file - it’s essential that you backup this data file regularly along with your other important files. That way you won’t be in the mire if you accidentally lose the file. The old rules about eggs and baskets certainly apply here. You can also print a password list from Whisper but don’t leave it lying around for all to see! Security The security built into Whisper 32 should defeat most casual hackers. It uses the US RSA Data Security MD5 Message Digest algorithm. If you forget the password, there’s virtually no way to access your data so please take care to make it memorable and known only to yourself!
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