Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
User Journal

Journal Journal: w00t

This better give me a new achievement.

Security

Submission + - What's the best tool for remembering passwords? 15

StonyCreekBare writes: Lately I've been re-thinking my personal security practices. Somehow having my Firefox "fill in" passwords automatically for me when I go to my bank's site seems sub-optimal should my laptop be stolen. Keeping passwords for all the varied sites on the computer in a plain-text file seems unwise as well. Keeping them in my brain is a prescription for disaster, as my brain is increasingly leaky. A paper notepad likewise has it's disadvantages.

I have looked at a number of password managers, password "vaults" and so on. The number of tools out there is a bit overwhelming. Magic Password Generator add-in for Firefox seems competent but is tied to Firefox, and I have other places and applications I want passwords. Plus I might be accessing my sites from other computers which do not have it installed.

The ideal tool in my mind should be something that is independent of any application, browser or computer, something that is easily carried, but which if lost poses no risk of compromise.

What does the Slashdot crowd like in Password tools?

Comment VHDL for teaching (Score 1) 301

Verilog gives you enough rope to easily hang yourself. VHDL gives you so little rope you'll want to hang yourself. As a vehicle for teaching H/W design though, I think VHDL would be better. It's much more explicit and rules oriented, and looks like you're describing H/W. Once you've learned VHDL, picking up Verilog is fairly trivial. I would think going in the other direction would be a bit harder. Language Bias Disclaimer: I've been using VHDL for 10 years, and Verilog for 2...

Comment Re:Sad but true (Score 1) 387

Umm, EVERYONE normal in Norway...hmmm no not so much. Anyone familiar with the Black Metal scene http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_Norwegian_black_metal_scene and the suicide/murder shenanigans between Mayhem and Burzum might not call that behavior normal. You know, rearranging your dead friends body for pictures, making necklaces out of his skull, all sorta not normal in my world...

Comment Re:That's OK. By then GLONASS will be fully operat (Score 1) 210

I'm really surprised that there has only been the ONE mention of GLONASS. GPS/GLONASS receivers have been available for years, but with collapse of the USSR, GLONASS almost became totally useless.

Now however, they've been launching 6 satellites a year and have a nearly full, and quite usable constellation. The accuracy is not quite as good as GPS and it's a much harder system to work with, but, quite useful shoudl anything happen to GPS.

Comment Re:How about LEDs then (Score 1) 801

CF bulbs are not designed for short on cycles. They're a poor choice for a hallway where the light is only turned on for a minute or two, or in a laundry room.

I think you're mistaken. I know, because I watch TV! Mythbusters looked at lightbulb myths recently. Actually, I'm not sure what you have in mind when you say CFs are not "designed" for short cycles. If you mean that they will burn out faster, that's certainly possible, but I doubt it. If you're referring to power-up energy costs, CFLs' energy-savings start at 15 milliseconds, so it's generally OK to turn off the bulb.


I think he was referring to the fact that bulbs take a minute or two to get up to full output. I have one CFL in my house that my wife complains about incessantly because it takes "sooooo long" to get to ful brightness. I've heard other people state that they like that side-effect -- it gives the eyes a few minutes to adjust.

Personally, I can see the commenter's point that if you just need to flip the light on to get through the hallway, then it gets turned off again, it would be nice if it came on at full brightness.

Slashdot Top Deals

The closest to perfection a person ever comes is when he fills out a job application form. -- Stanley J. Randall

Working...