Dashlane, A New Password Manager For Windows and Mac

Just yesterday we have reviewed the Norton Identity Safe password manager which had been released as a beta version earlier this month. Today, I’m going to look at another password manager that is currently making the rounds.

Dashlane is currently in private beta, which means that you need an invite to start using it (thanks to The Next Web). Once you have have entered your email address you are redirected to a page where you can download the Windows or Mac client to your local system.

Dashlane currently connects with the Chrome and Firefox web browser only, with an Internet Explorer version in the making. Installation gives users choice to connect to one, multiple or all of the supported browsers, which is better than Norton’s all or nothing approach. It felt kinda weird though that you had to close all browsers, even if you unselected the extension from being installed in them.

The program ships with a desktop program that you can use for all management purposes, and a browser extension that handles input and detection in the web browser.

The browser extension basically acts as a link between the desktop app and the web browser. It can fill out login information automatically for you if you have configured it that way, and will automatically ask you if you want to send new logins to the password manager for safe keeping. It is furthermore possible to click into a login form directly to select one of the available accounts for the site.

You can configure the program to generate strong passwords for you whenever you register new accounts. Just click in the password field of the registration form, and then on the generate strong password button that appears right beneath it to create a strong password.

Dashlane furthermore can do all the form filling for you, if identity related information have been saved into the program’s database previously. The program takes care of multiple identities for you, and if you like also of ID related information and payments that you make on the Internet. These information can then be filled out automatically whenever you register a new account on a site.

One interesting feature of the desktop application is the security dashboard, which lists password strength ratings for all accounts.

Links point directly to low safety accounts giving users options to change their passwords on site directly to make them more secure.

The desktop app is protected by a master password which needs to be supplied on start before you are able to access the information. The developers have published a white paper that explains the security concept in detail.

You can synchronize password information easily, provided that your devices are running a support operating system and web browser. Data is encrpyted with an AES-256 key before it is written to the computer’s hard drive. Information may also be stored in the cloud, if users select to synchronize their information across devices for instance.

Users can access their data on the web as well, which is useful if you are on a public PC, mobile phone or computer that’s not compatible with the Dashlane desktop app. They should note though that the web app is read-only.

The program only asks you if you want to import your browser passwords into the password manager (and delete them afterwards). Users find desktop password manager import options under the File menu. Supported are popular password managers such as Last Pass, KeePass or 1Password.

Dashlane Presentation Video

Closing Words

Dashlane shows a lot of promise for a closed beta product. It is definitely superior to Norton’s password manager at this point in time. Not everything is golden though right now. The program lacks support for Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari currently, with only Internet Explorer listed as “soon” to be compatible.

An option to generate secure passwords, or to modify password creation rules, is not available currently.

It is also not clear if the developers plan to turn the service into a commercial password manager at a later point in time, or if they are going down the LastPass road which would keep the basic desktop version free.

If you are looking for a password manager for Windows or Mac, and are using Firefox or Chrome, I suggest you give it a try.

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Audit Windows Passwords With Password Security Scanner About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday February 2, 2012 -
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Norton Identity Safe Beta, PC And Mobile Password Manager

Password managers are essential tools to stay safe on the Internet. Most offer a lot more than just saving passwords in a secure database. My personal favorite KeePass for instance can generate secure passwords, export or import some or all into various other formats, integrate with web browsers to make the login more comfortable or save form and other important information safely as well.

Symantec has recently launched Norton Identity Safe, a password manager for Windows PCs as well as Android and Apple iOS mobile devices. The program ships with browser extensions for all five popular browsers (Opera, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome and Safari).

Norton Internet Security and Norton 360 users may already know the program as it is integrated into their applications. Everyone else can download a free copy of the password manager from the Norton website.

The program stores password information in the cloud like Last Pass, another password management service, does. When you compare the two services you will notice that Last Pass has an edge over Norton’s tool, as it supports features like automatic form filling, a portable mode or 2-factor authentication. Some of those are on the other hand only available for Last Pass Premium account users who pay $12 per year for that service.

Norton’s Identity Safe on the other hand ships with Norton Safe Web which informs you about unsafe websites that you are about to visit. Norton Safe web Life then again is available for free.

Here is a short table comparing core features of both products:

All Norton Identity Safe logins, notes and cards are saved with a master password that you need to create during setup. Norton requires you to use at least one upper and lower character, one number and one special char for the master passwords.

Toolbars are installed in all supported browsers automatically during installation, with no option to block the installation in some browsers. The toolbar is unfortunately not compatible with all browser versions. It failed to install for instance in Firefox Aurora.

The toolbar displays a search form, Safe Web, Identity Safe and sharing options. The search links to a custom Norton search engine. The Identity Safe button in the toolbar appears to be the only option to control the password manager. I closed the toolbar in Chrome and could not get it to open up again as there were no options to do so.

The menu links to the Identity Safe homepage, settings, a log in list that is directly accessible from the menu and options to log out of the password manager.

The password manager interface displays the password strength of the selected password. Here it is also possible to define whether the password information should be filled out automatically when the page is visited, whether a prompt for the master password should be displayed before that’s happening, and whether the program should you log in automatically if you select the login from the list.

The password manager works as expected most of the time. I had troubles getting it to work in Internet Explorer 9 though. The toolbar displayed fine in the browser, but new passwords and log ins were not recognized by the program.

Norton Identity Safe is an alternative to Last Pass, especially for users who want mobile access to their log in information. Most users will have troubles getting their stored passwords into the program in first place, which will keep many from using it (unless they use Internet Explorer for that).

The lack of browser selection during installation, missing form filling support, lack of frontend on the desktop and several bugs should keep most users from using it as their main password manager.

The Norton Identity Beta website offers no information on the future of the product. Will the final version remain free, or will it be turned into a commercial software that users have to pay for?

Have you tried Norton Identity Safe? If so, what’s your impression?

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Norton Internet Security And Norton AntiVirus 2011 Beta Download About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Thursday February 2, 2012 -
Tags:norton, password manager, windows software

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