Software
Review of: |
| I’ve
got the brain like a sieve and the organizational skills of an overcooked
Brussels sprout. If I were a truly admirable human being, I would remember
all of my passwords, or at the very least, write them down in a secure
place. Do I do any of this? Of course not.
One of my most doofus stunts was to forget the password to my web site. I’ve had it for five years – maybe longer – and when I set it up I immediately entered the password into my file transfer program, WS-FTP. And forgot it. That was about three computers ago. When it came time to retire the computer that contained the password, I panicked. I would have to keep that old computer running forever because it was the only record of my password, and being the all-knowing web-goddess that I am I couldn’t very well grovel to my ISP and admit my fallibility. My solution was to copy the WS-FTP program, including the password file, onto my new computer. Success! Although I still couldn’t read the password – it was masked by asterisks – the actual password transferred along with the program. For every other web site I maintain I use the much slicker Cute-FTP. But for my own site, I’m stuck using the clunky, older program because the mystery password lives there. You might not have a web site, but if you have an Internet account you probably entered your password when you first set up your account, clicked on the little box that said "remember password" and forgot it. If your computer crashes, or you buy a new computer, you’re stuck. Not any more. Snadboy’s Revelation is a free utility that cracks passwords that are
masked by asterisks. In the screen capture, the box on the left is WS-FTP, I tried Revelation on my Internet Dialup Networking, WS-FTP and Cute-FTP and it worked like a charm on all three. I can hear the little gears turning in your brain. Isn’t this a security hole? Of course it is! When Revelation was first released in 1997, Microsoft went ballistic. At that time, it was branded as a Windows 95 security leak. I use Windows 98, and it still works. A new Revelation for Windows 2000 is in the works. The hole wasn’t plugged If you are concerned about unauthorized people deciphering your password using Revelation, don’t ask your computer to "remember" your passwords. Remember them yourself, and enter them afresh each time. Revelation will fit on a floppy disk and could easily be used by an unscrupulous repairperson, a snoopy employee or a child whose Internet usage you are monitoring by withholding the password. You can download Revelation at <www.snadboy.com>. It a free 1,292,961 byte download. Use it wisely.
Susan Ives designs web sites and never writes anything down. |
with
a dummy account and password configured on it. (I might be stupid enough
to forget my password, but am not quite dumb enough to publish it in a
magazine.) The box on the right is Revelation. To use the program, open
up both Revelation and your password dialog box. Using your mouse, drag
the crosshair icon so that it sits over the password. It will be revealed.