Keeping track of all of those passwords securely: KeePassX

KeePassX: Multi-platform password manager.

I hate trying to remember all of my passwords for all of the different sites I use. And to those that would say “I just use the same password for all of them” – That is just not smart. Loose one password and someone can get into all of your accounts. Now think about how disastrous it would be if someone had access to all of your accounts – facebook, bank, credit card, email, work email, work VPN, work logon, etc.

KeePassX will make it a breeze to use different and secure passwords for all your different account. By secure, I don’t just mean two words strung together with a number in between them. I am talking about something like this: moo4en9eequ9WeNg1Sh or something even more difficult.

There are some nice features in this software that make it easy to use and pretty darned secure. You can hide user names and passwords on the screen so no one can look over your shoulder and get the information. You use copy and paste commands to copy usernames and passwords to the login page your are on.

The software will not only password protect the entire database, it will also secure it with a key file as well. This means you have to know the password as well as know the name of the key file and have access to it to access your data.

The main reason I like KeePassX is because it it cross platform and free. Yup, I opt for free when it is open source. When I cannot find an open source application to do what I want I will end up paying money for a commercial application. There are a lot of closed source “free” applications out there that are full of spyware and worse: keyloggers and other virile .

I personally use dropbox to store my password database on. I keep my key file on an SD card and have a very long and secure password. Of course I keep a copy of my key file and database on separate CD’s in a secure location as well.

Think about how hard it would be for someone to get access to my data versus the person who uses the same password for everything. Now ask yourself if you want to be that person dealing with all of the headaches associated with a stolen identity. If you don’t, I recommend you use KeePassX or another password manager.

Adobe Acrobat Pro for Linux? No, but this is even better: PDF Studio Pro!

Anyone familiar with Linux is well aware of the most lacking area for applications: Business Applications.

Of the most desired(at least by me) is an equal to Adobe Acrobat. If Adobe would just release a version for Linux they would have an instant base willing to pay for it. But alas, they have not.

There is now no need to look any further. There are a few different solutions out there that do work well enough for Linux. But I have stumbled upon one that works even better than the original!

PDF Studio Pro by Qoppa Software takes just about all the functionality of Adobe Acrobat Pro and makes it much easier to use.  But wait, it get’s even better! It is also cross platform compatible – it works in Windows, Linux and Mac. And as if that was not enough, it is much less expensive than the Adobe software!

If you need to be able to digitally sign documents you will want the pro version. At $95 for single copies (~$54 for large quantity purchases) you cannot beat it. Once you download the free trial, you will see how much easier it is to use. It is much more intuitive than any other pdf software I have used.

There are a couple of features that this software does not include when compared to Adobe’s offering. These are OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and the ability to create forms. The former I have only used on rare occasions in Acrobat. And the latter can be accomplished much more easily with LibreOffice, OpenOffice or Scribus.

If you were holding off using Linux as your primary business operating system because of a few missing applications; you can scratch the killer pdf application off your list. Sit down and try this application. You will find in short order that it is much easier to use than any other. The ability to use it in just about any operating system makes it a major deal sealer for me.