Pimping Your PC with Peripherals Keyboards and Mice!

By Bryan Lambert – September 27, 2009

You get your shiny new PC delivered via FedEx.  As you start to unpack and assemble that puppy, you realize that the peripherals (if they even have any) are usually of the most basic kind. Its then that you realize that you need to Pimp Your PC with peripherals.  In this Tech Tip we'll look at two of the most basic of computer parts that will help you Geek out on your PC experience yes, the lowly keyboard and mouse.

Computer Keyboards

Nothing quite makes or breaks the PC experience like a quality keyboard.  Sure, that keyboard packed with your PC, (or built in – as in the case of laptops), may be adequate for the basic computer experience so unless you got one of those Macs with that snazzy aluminum keyboards. You may want to think about getting something better…  cooler  stronger faster  Well, step right up theres a cacophony of keyboards to choose from: wireless; wired; multimedia; with iPod docks, ergonomic, integrated USB, integrated mics, integrated speakers, even gold plated ones and others made out of wood – you name it, someone somewhere has probably built and sold it.   

Lets get down to business. With a keyboard, you need something that is not only well made and durable but something that works for what you want to get out of it.  When it comes to keyboards, you have Logitech Microsoft, Kensington  and then everyone else, but you really dont need to stick to a name brand to get a quality keyboard you just need to know what to look for. Does it flex and bow (youd be surprised)? how do the keys feel when typing? Does it just look good?  All important questions to ask and it may be worth it (if possible) to try out the keyboard in person to make sure that it suits you but even sight unseen you may be able to dig up a review or two to get a good idea about how it'll work.

Some things to consider when getting a new keyboard:

1. Make sure that you get one that works with your computers ports (usually USB or generic brands viagra online target=”_blank” title=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS/2_connector”>PS/2)
2. If going for wireless, Bluetooth is a little more expensive than RF (radio frequency) but if you need more than a six foot range, then go with Bluetooth.  
3. Extra goodies and features on a keyboard make it that much more functional.  Maybe consider a keyboard with built in touch pad or scroll wheel.  Youll be surprised how much youll end up using it.
4. Flexible membrane keyboards as well as mini keyboards, while cool, are a pain to type on.
5. Dont be afraid of a refurbished keyboard most were returned more because someone didnt like that particular keyboard for whatever reason (same with mice).  
6. If you are a Mac user, modern Apples will work fine with standard Windows PC USB keyboards though you get that pesky Windows friendly layout.  Conversely, most keyboards designed for modern Macs will work fine for PCs (but, as always, there are some exceptions).
7. If you are a gamer, Id highly recommend looking at some of the gamer specific keyboards, keypads and mice (usually made by niche companies like Wolfking but even mainstream companies like Logitech have their fair share of gaming keyboards (like their G13 Gameboard). Not really practical for the rest of us, but if youre a gamer these will help you get your game on.  

Mice / Mouse

Getting just the right mouse for your computer can make all the difference in the world.  While a good keyboard can make or break the computer experience, mice run a close second.  Standard mice basically come in three flavors: ball mice (these are the ones that are usually pre-packaged with a PC and that may come in some of the more inexpensive keyboard/mouse combo kits), optical mouse (so named because it uses an LED light to track movement rather than a physical ball rolling around), and laser mouse —  (basically like the optical but using a laser rather than an LED they work better on certain surfaces than optical).  There are alternatives to the standard mouse, such as a trackball mouse and digital tablets and some people do swear by them, but they take getting use to.

While many of the same caveats that applied to keyboards also apply to mice there are a few extra things to consider with mice:

1. When shopping for a laptop mouse, there are mini type mice available.  They fit great in a case, but not necessarily in your hand.
2. Check the specs on your laptop, it may already have Bluetooth built in.  If it does, then getting a wireless Bluetooth mouse just makes sense.  If it doesnt and you want to go wireless, then look for a mouse with a mini adapter that plugs into the laptop (like the Logitech VX Nano mouse or you can just buy a mini USB Bluetooth adapter yourself.).
3. Even though optical mice work with a variety of surfaces, you may still find that you need a mouse pad (some companies such as Fellowes make mouse pads specifically for optical mice).
4. Some desktop wireless mice include a recharging cradle a nice way to save costs on battery replacements.
5. Consider buying a keyboard and mouse combo theres no better way to assure color and style coordination.

Final Thoughts

Though we all know keyboards and mice, it's easy to become overwhelmed when buying upgrades with the bewildering number of choices that are available.  It is our hope that with this week's Tech Tip, youll find that task a little less daunting and a little more fun!  So go! Get your Geek on! Pimp your PC with a new keyboard and mouse!

Choosing Webcams

By Scott Nesbitt – September 20, 2009

I can remember my first encounter with a Web camera (or webcam, for short). It was in the early 1990s, and the item in question was perched atop the computer monitor of a friend's desktop pc. It looked like a large, white, and evil eyeball. The video that the webcam picked up was choppy and in grayscale. But I can still remember how neat I thought that whole thing was.

Times change, and technology gets better. And so has the quality and variety of uses of webcams. Sure, you can still use a webcam to watch the cat or a pot of coffee, or to record silly hijinks. But you can do much more with one. Like record high-quality videos and and do audio/video conferencing over the Web.

Like choosing any other peripheral, picking the right webcam can be tough.  This TechTip looks at some of the factors you should consider when you decide that a webcam is for you.

Why buy a webcam anyway?

A webcam is definitely not for everyone. Let's be honest, unless you have a compelling reason to buy one chances are that a webcam will be way off your radar.

That said, there are a number of reasons to want to buy a webcam. As mentioned a few paragraphs ago, you might want to record first-person video tutorials. Or, you might be working remotely and need to video conference with colleagues and clients. Don't discount the lure of the Web cam for staying in touch with family and friends grandparents love them. On top of that, many people are now using them for face-to-face language exchange with learners and teachers in other countries. There are other reasons for getting a webcam, but this site is family-friendly so I won't mention them here

If you need one and have a desktop computer, then it's pretty much a given they you're going to get an external camera. But what about the folks who like to take their computing mobile? A number of laptop computers and just about every gel viagra target=”_blank” title=”http://www.geeks.com/products_sc.asp?cat=1208&cm_mmc=geekmail-_-techtips-_-20sep09_techtips-_-storylink”>netbook out there comes with a built-in webcam. While the quality and resolution are good, they're not great. If need better resolution, or if you have an older laptop, then you really need an external webcam.

Resolution, resolution

That's usually the first thing that people look for when buying a webcam. A previous TechTip covering digital cameras talked about megapixels and how they weren't the most important factor when choosing a camera. With webcams, on the other hand, the situation is somewhat different.

While you won't get the resolution that you would with a digital camera, a good webcam can offer you up to two megapixels of resolution. About 1.3 megapixels is often enough for most purposes.

Also, consider the screen resolution of the video on your computer's monitor. The average webcam offers 320 pixels by 240 pixels. Which is OK, especially when you're working with a small screen on something like a netbook. With a laptop or desktop PC, you can do better. Double that, in fact 640 pixels by 480 pixels.

Framing the seconds

Related to resolution is the number of frames per second that the camera can process and send to your computer. Obviously, the larger the number of frames that the camera spits out per second means the better the video quality.  Most webcams can handle between 10 and 30 frames per seconds. Fifteen frames per second is about average. With a webcam like that, the video will be a bit choppy, especially if you suddenly move.  Some higher-end webcams can handle up to 120 frames per second. You probably won't need anything like that. Thirty to 50 frames per seconds is probably more than enough for most uses.

Lenses and sensors

The real world has to get into the webcam somehow. And that's through the lens and the sensor.  Less expensive webcams use plastic lenses that are fixed. You can't change the focus. Better webcams have glass lenses which you can focus by twisting the collar around the lens. Most people can get by with a fixed lens. But if you can afford it (more on this later), try to get a webcam with a glass lens. A glass lens does a better job of moving light to the sensor.  The sensor is, however, the key piece of the camera. It's the electronics that converts light into a digital image. There are two types of sensors: CMOS and CCD. CMOS sensors are still used in lower-cost webcams (and a few more expensive ones). CCD sensors (which are older technology) are regularly used in still digital cameras. While I've seen little evidence of the superiority of one sensor over another, some webcam users prefer models with CCD sensors.  But as with a digital camera, you might want to find a webcam with a sensor that has strong light sensitivity and dynamic range. That way you get better video.

The price that's right

Luckily, webcams aren't as expensive as they used to be. You don't need to shell out hundreds of dollars anymore. If you check out Geeks.com, for instance, you can find webcams for under $10 (US).

Depending on your needs and your budget, you can get a very good webcam for between $50 and $80 dollars. If that's too rich for your blood, or if your needs are modest, then go with a model that costs between $20 and $30. You won't get the same resolution or video quality with the lower cost model, though.

Optional extras

As with any other gadget, there are a couple nice-to-have features that you can look for in a webcam if you so desire. The first of these is built-in audio.  That could mean either a built-in microphone or a combination of a microphone and a speaker. With the latter, you don't need to worry about getting a chat headset or even a separate set of headphones. The drawback is that sometimes you're going to get feedback. Ouch! Most people I know get a webcam with a built-in microphone and use their headset or the earbuds from their MP3/MP4 players or iPods.  You need to attach the webcam to your computer. So, you may also want find a webcam with a solid stand or clip. A clip is a must if you want to use the webcam with your laptop computer.

The need for speed

Something that's often overlooked is the need for a fast video card. The video card is doing a lot of the work processing the information that's coming from a webcam into a computer. If your webcam offers higher resolution and a high number of frames per second, then your video card will be doing a lot of work.  If you're serious about using a webcam, you might want to consider upgrading your video card. Look for one with a fast graphics processor and a lot of memory. If you don't, you run into a lot of choppy video which is no fun.

Note: An upcoming TechTip will look at video cards.

Wrapping up

A webcam can not only be useful, it can be a lot of fun. And buying one doesn't need to be a painful chore filled with obscure jargon and tech talk. When you decide to go shopping, remember to take into account what you want to do with the webcam and keep the factors that this TechTip discusses in mind. That way, you'll be able to get the webcam that's right for you.

Four Apps to Take Your Tweeting to the Next Level

By Scott Nesbitt – September 13, 2009

There's no doubt that Twitter has become a major player in the world of social media. In fact, it's pretty find viagra much at the top of the heap of the various microblogging services available on the Web.

And with good reason: Twitter is easy to use and the breadth and depth of posts is something to see.

For a power user (or a power user wannabe), the Twitter Web interface leaves a bit to be desired. It's fine for reading and posting messages (called tweets in Twitter-speak). But the interface is lacking in a lot of ways. If you want to, for example, send a message to another Twitter user or retweet (repost an interesting message), then you have to remember a keyboard command and/or do some copying and pasting.  Why do that, when you can use graphical tool that gives you point-and-click access to all the Twitter functions you need? And a few more to boot. There a number of desktop clients for Twitter, and a few Web-based ones too.

This TechTip looks at four of the more interesting Twitter clients out there. All of them are free, and they work on computers that run Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.

Going minimal with Qwit

While somewhat barebones, Qwit (an Open Source Twitter client) fills in a lot of the gaps of Twitter's Web interface. And it's easy to use.  Qwit has a tabbed interface that seems to be popular with desktop Twitter clients, and other kinds of desktop apps too. There are seven, to be exact – for updates that you and the people you follow have posted, for messages that you've sent and have been sent to you, to do a search, and one tab each for all new posts to the service and for specific Twitter feeds that you want to pay particular attention to.

While I'd like to get rid of a couple of the tabs, there isn't a way to do that. A minor annoyance.

But the real flexibility is on Qwit's Home tab. That's where you view your posts and the posts of those you're following. You can type an update at the top of the Qwit window, and you can even attach a photo to a tweet. The photo doesn't go to Twitter; it's uploaded to a site called TwitPic and linked to your tweet. On top of that, long URLs are automatically shortened.

Every update on the Home tab has three additional buttons which allow you to reply to a tweet, repost it, and to send the poster a private message.  It's a lot easier than remembering keyboard commands.

Giving twhirl a whirl

You might remember a TechTip that looked at a technology called Adobe AIR. One of the great things about AIR is that it make it easy for developers to create software that interacts with Web applications. Twitter is no exception.

twhirl is one of the first truly cross-platform AIR apps that I've used. Other applications, either Twitter clients or apps in various other categories, either didn't work under Linux or were sluggish.

With twhirl, you can post, reply, retweet, and send direct messages all by clicking on an icon on the toolbar at the bottom of the twhirl window. You can view the people you follow and who follow you, and search for specific Twitter users. You'll need to know their Twitter user name, though.

As well, twhirl shortens URLs with a click – that's great for posting a long link that cuts into Twitter's 140 character limit. As with Qwit, you can share photos in a tweet by uploading them to TwitPic from within the app.

My only gripe with twhirl is that its interface takes some getting used to. It's obvious what some of the icons in the twhirl window do. Others you're not so sure about until you click them. I'd also like URL shortening to be automatic, but clicking a button to do the deed isn't all that onerous a task.

Don't tweet, twait instead

Twaitter is one of the growing number of Web-based Twitter clients. But Twaitter goes further than other desktop and online Twitter clients with a few features that power user and businesses will find useful.

Like any other Twitter client, Twaitter enables you to read and view tweets, send replies, retweet messages, and view and send private messages to other Twitter users. You simply go www.twaitter.com and log in using your Twitter user name and password.

But Twaitter has one feature that's sets it apart from all other clients. That feature is the ability to schedule tweets. Using Twaitter, you can write tweets ahead of time and let them appear on Twitter at specific times and dates. This is useful if, for example, you're doing a marketing promotion and want to leak details on to Twitter without it seeming like you're spamming.

To use Twaitter, all you need to do is type your tweet. Then, click the twait button. Choose the time and date one which you want the tweet to appear and then click the Schedule button. You can also tell Twaitter whether you want the tweet to only appear once, or if it’s going to recurring at regular intervals.

One useful feature of Twaitter is that ability to edit a tweet. Even the best of us succumb to the typo bug. If you've entered a tweet in Twaitter, you quickly fix a typo or an error. To do that in Twitter's Web interface, you need to delete the tweet and then resend it.

If you don't want to worry about fiddling with a browser to get to Twaitter, you can always bring Twaitter to your desktop using Prism (software that creates desktop shortcuts for opening Web applications in their own windows).

Add TwitterFox to your browser

As long as that browser's Firefox. Why install yet another piece of software on your computer when you can make Twitter a part of your browsing experience? That's what TwitterFox does.

It's an add-on for Firefox, the popular Open Source browser. While Qwit is fairly bare bones, TwitterFox is downright minimalist. After installing and configuring TwitterFox, an icon (the stylized Twitter t) appears in the lower-right corner of the Firefox interface. When updates from the people you follow are available, the icon displays how many updates there are. Click the icon to open the TwitterFox window.

The TwitterFox window contains three tabs. The main one lists all updates that you and the people you follow have posted recently. The other tabs list any messages in which you're mentioned (what Twitter calls @mentions) and private messages that you've sent or received. There's also a small area at the bottom of the window for entering a tweet.

TwitterFox is easy to use, but not always intuitive. A part of that comes from its minimalism. If you want to reply to a tweet, you must hold your mouse over the tweet. A curved arrow appears. Click the arrow, and go from there. On top of that, there's no button for retweeting a post. Instead, you right click a tweet and choose Retweet from the menu that appears. That right-click menu, by the way, also enables you to copy tweets and to delete any of your own tweets.

The integration with Firefox goes a little further than TwitterFox simply being spawned from the browser. In the bottom left of the TwitterFox window is an icon that looks like a bit of chain. Click that to include the URL of current tab in a tweet. If, with the URL, the tweet is over the 140 charactewitterr limit, TFox will shorten the URL using the popular TinyURL service.

Conclusion

Good desktop (or even Web-based) Twitter clients give you a lot of flexibility and a number of features that are just not found at the Twitter site. They make tweeting faster and easier.

Do you have a favorite desktop Twitter client? Share it with the TechTips reader community by leaving a comment.

How to Watch Your PC on a TV

By Bryan Lambert – September 6, 2009

Many people have purchased large screen flat female viagra panel televisions over the last few years and one of the cool by-products of having an HDTV is many will have a plethora of inputs that will allow you to view your desktop computer quickly and easily right on your television. Some of the geeky pleasures of having the ability to output your computer to a TV are showing off videos or photos on the big screen, and using it as a very large work or gaming screen. In this Tech Tip, we are going to look at some quick and easy methods for viewing your computer's output on your television (these tips work great for projectors as well).

What you will need:

The quick, cheap and basic way to get a computer to show up on a TV is to plug it in. If you have a desktop pc, you may be able to use the cable that you have right now going to your monitor. If you have a notebook computer, you’ll need to buy an additional cable(s).

Here’s the common inputs you’ll see:

VGA Cable
This is the tried and true connector that we have seen on computers, well almost forever. This is the connector that nearly every HDTV will have. Sure you may not get the resolution you need, and it can’t play back protected content (think Blu-Ray movies), but it is quick and simple to use.

S-Video
Some computers have it, some don’t – but S-Video is also a quick and easy way to get the computer screen working on the TV. The nice thing about S-Video is that it will many times work on standard resolution TVs if you still have one hanging around (the resolution is not that good, but it's a nice way to show off pictures).

DVI Cable
DVI is a terrific format to use, not only because it can support very high resolutions, but also because it can support full resolution HDCP protected content (High Definition movies such as found with Blu-Ray). Because the signal is digital (VGA isn’t), you also tend to get a much better looking picture than you would than with VGA. The cable can cost more, and it doesn’t carry audio (you’d need a separate audio patch cable for that), however the next cable on our list does.

HDMI Cable
For hooking a computer to an HDTV, this is definitely the way to go for many people because it's one cable that carries both video and audio, it supports HDCP protected content and high resolutions, and is relatively inexpensive. One drawback is that while many laptops have an HDMI connector, many desktops do not – so you’d need to add that port yourself (usually through a video card upgrade).

Wireless
Some companies, such as IOGear also offer wireless solutions for both video and audio. Wireless tends not to support the higher resolutions, but can be alot of fun to use.

Tips…

Some common caveats to look out for:

1. You need to go into your video card “control panel”, use a function key or go into the video card properties to set up the computer for “dual monitor use” if you have a laptop or are leaving your main monitor connected if using a desktop. For TV display, most people just choose to “mirror” the display (same image appears on both monitors).
2. Unless you are using HDMI, you’ll need to run a separate audio cable for audio through the TV.
3. The highest resolution you can display is what can be supported by both the TV and the video card (it is just like a big monitor after all).
4. For Blu-Ray protected content, you’d need to set your output to the HDTV only – it will not usually display on both TV and monitor (you may also need to set the audio out to SPDIF for Blu-Ray movies to get the audio on the TV as well).
5. Some laptop computers tend to “lose” the audio capabilities of HDMI when using drivers not designed for the unit (even if it is a “recommended” update from your computer automatic updates).
6. You may need to “play” with the TV’s aspect ratio to make the computers output “fit” properly to the TV screen.
7. Be sure that you set the source on your TV to match the input you are using on the computer.
8. Make sure that the cables are plugged in all the way – it’s really easy for a cable to slip out “just a little”.

In Conclusion

Whether you want to show off some photos in a slide show or use your Entertainment PC for use as a Blu-Ray player, hooking up your computer to a HDTV is a great way to use your HDTV to its full capability. So fire up the PC, plug it in and let the fun begin!

Four Password Managers To Wrangle Those Pesky Passwords

By Scott Nesbitt – August 30, 2009

Passwords. They're a blessing and a curse, aren't they? In today's digital world, we all seem to have passwords for … well, for everything. And a lot of passwords. For online banking, Web mail, e-commerce sites, our favorite Web applications, and more.

As many of us have learned, though, it can be hard to remember all of those passwords. If you forget a password, the kinds of sites mentioned in the last paragraph can either send you a password or reset it. But that's takes a bit of time and just adds to the confusion.

While you can write down your passwords in a paper notebook (remember those?) or in a file on your external hard drive, what happens if you lose the notebook or delete the file? Or if someone else gets hold of them? The situation will end in tears.

Instead of relying on your memory or more traditional ways of storing passwords, why not turn to a password manager?

Enter the password manager

A password manager is a piece of software that, obviously, lets you securely store and organize your various passwords. The software is usually designed for a desktop computer or a notebook computers, but password managers are also available for smartphones. The BlackBerry, for example, comes with one called Password Keeper.

The principle behind the password manager is simple. It stores your login information in an encrypted database or in a file hidden somewhere on your external hard drive. You enter your information using a simple form. This information can include:

• The name of the Web site or service with which the password is associated
• A user name
• The password (of course)

Optionally, there might be space for entering a URL and a note.

Whenever you need a password, you just dip into the password manager and pull it out. Some applications, like Apple's Keychain Access, enable you to log into a Web site using a single password.

The obvious advantage to using this kind of software is convenience – you don't need to try to remember multiple user names and passwords, or worry about confusing them. They're all in one secure place. But what's out there? Let's take a look at a few.

Universal Password Manager

This is an interesting one. Universal Password Manager is an Open Source application that runs on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS. You'll need Java installed on your computer to run this application, but the three operating systems on which it runs usually have Java installed already.

To get set up, you create a database for your passwords. From there, you can add your passwords to the database using a simple form.

Universal Password Manager has a nifty feature that lets you copy a user name or a password from an entry in the database, without having to double click on the entry. This is useful when you remember one or the other (it happens!).

The database is encrypted with a scheme called AES (Advanced Encryption Standard). It's not the strongest encryption but it works. While you can create multiple databases – for example, one for our desktop computer and one for your cheap netbook – Universal Password Manager is Web enabled. You can save a database to a Web server and point the application there. No matter what computer you’re using, you can always access your password store.

KeePass Password Safe

KeePass is sort of like a supercharged version of Universal Password Manager, though only for Windows. It comes in two versions. The Classic version, which has more than just basics features, and the Pro version, which needs Microsoft's .NET to run. You can compare the features of the two versions here.

Remember what I said about KeePass being Windows only? That's not quite true. The Classic version also runs in Linux under Wine, although the toolbar buttons go AWOL. And the developer says that the Pro version will run under any operating system, like Linux or Mac OS, that supports Mono (an Open Source version of .NET).

KeePass stores all of its information in a database that's encrypted with AES (told you it was like Universal Password Manager). You can have multiple databases, and add multiple groups to a database. Groups enable you to collect similar Web sites, applications, services in separate folders — one, say, for Web applications, one for e-commerce sites, and another for banking information. This makes it easier to manage your passwords.

You can also tell KeePass to protect certain fields of the database — like password or user name — while the application is running. While you're using a database, or before you save it, this keeps the information safe from other applications, like trojans, that may try to read your computer's memory. What really sets KeePass apart from other password managers is its collection of plugins. There are plugins for importing passwords from other applications, managing databases, integrating KeePass with other software, and more.

GNOME Password Manager

If you're running Linux with the female viagra sildenafil target=”_blank” title=”http://www.gnome.org/”>GNOME desktop, you've got a password manager already installed. Called GPass, you can find it under Applications > Accessories. It's a simple application but one that gets the job done.

To use it, you click the Add button on the toolbar. From there, enter whatever information you need. At the very least, you should specify a name to identify the information, a user name, and a password. Click OK and you're done. It's that simple.

Passwords are stored in a file, encrypted with the Blowfish encryption scheme, somewhere on your computer. I'll be darned if I can find that file …

GPass lacks a lot of frills. But one useful feature that it shares with Universal Password Manager is the ability to copy user IDs and passwords by right clicking on an entry – you don't need to open it. GPass also has a decent search feature, which is useful if you have a lot of passwords.

Passpack

Passpack is a Web-based password manager. It's said to be quite secure. The login procedure itself is in three steps: enter your user name and password, then click a security image, then enter a passphrase.

Once you're in, it's easy to use. As with desktop password managers, Passpack has a form for entering a user name, a password, and a link to a Web site (if necessary). On top of that, Passpack shows you the strength of the password while you're typing it. I can't vouch for the accuracy of this. If you enter the entire alphabet and numbers from 0 to 9, the password will be considered fairly strong.

Passpack also has some useful tools. You can import and export password files to and from another password manager. There's an Adobe AIR application that lets you access your passwords from your desktop. On top of that, Passpack supports a feature that lets you specify sites to which you can login with a single click.

A few words of advice

If you're using an online password manager like PassPack, it's probably best not to add passwords for online banking, credit cards, or services like PayPal to it. The application might be secure, but you can never be 100% confident. The convenience could wind up costing you.

If your password manager has a feature that automatically generates password, don't use it. A good password is random. These applications generate passwords that aren't truly random. Instead, they're what's call pseudo random. You get a complex password, but there are tools available that can detect a pattern in the password and break it. It may not happen to you, but you never can tell.

And never, ever forget the password to get into your password manager. That seems like simple advice, but far too often people have let that password slip their minds. It's embarrassing, and I'm speaking from experience.

Conclusion

Wrangling your many and varied passwords isn't an art. It can be tough, but with the good password manager the job is a lot easier. You don't have to worry about potentially fallible human memory, and you'll eliminate the chaos that all of your passwords are causing you.