Passwords used to have an element of excitement and mystery: as a child you needed one to join a secret club. They were the glamorous preserve of spies. In today’s digital age, however, they are a pain.

Whether you’re checking your online bank account or accessing web-based e-mails, most digital tasks now require a password - and remembering them is a chore.

The good news is there’s a selection of software that can create or remember passwords and can enter them automatically as needed. Some services will also take over the monotony of online form-filling.

No password management setup is perfect - it’s a constant battle between convenience and security - but here’s how to find the best answers.

CHOOSE WISELY

When faced with remembering multiple passwords, many people write them down or choose the same phrase every time. The pitfall of the latter approach is that if someone gets hold of your Facebook password, they will have access to your bank, credit card and e-mail accounts. It’s relatively harmless to reuse passwords on nonessential sites such as internet forums but any that store financial details must have a unique one.

When choosing a password avoid common words or names. Hackers use software that throws millions of these at password forms to try to unlock accounts - a technique known as dictionary attacks. Pick passwords containing words and numbers, with the numbers in the middle - for example, sund53aytimes. A pet’s name, a celebrity and profanities are all guessable and should be avoided. Microsoft offers a clear guide at tinyurl.com/2e7tmw with a checker tool that rates the strength of your chosen password phrase.

Short on inspiration? Firefox browser software has an optional password-creation plug-in tool (see tinyurl.com/3y782w ) while www.goodpassword.com can take a personally memorable phrase such as “my sisters are Helen and Rachel” and create a password out of it - for example, by using the first letter of each word and replacing certain letters with lookalike keyboard symbols, in this case ms@h@r.

HIDDEN WEAPONS #

It’s all well and good having dozens of complex passwords but remembering them is a nightmare, especially those used only occasionally. All the popular web browsers can be set up to remember and then insert usernames and passwords onto web forms. With Internet Explorer 7, this is shown under Settings as part of the browser’s AutoComplete function. If activated, whenever you enter a username and password on a website, Internet Explorer will ask if it should remember them. Firefox users should look under Tools, Options and select the Security button. Then tick the box marked “remember passwords for sites”.

The problem with this system is that it will work only on one computer. Switch computers and you won’t have access to the sites unless you can remember your passwords. Anyone else who uses your computer - family, colleagues or, potentially, thieves - can gain access to your details.

If you are worried that Internet Explorer has saved passwords you never intended it to or you want to wipe your slate clean, follow the instructions at About.com’s guide to erasing stored passwords (tinyurl.com/6bk3y7 ). To do this in Firefox, click the Show Passwords button and then hit Remove All.

PASSWORD MANAGERS

A far more secure way to save passwords is with dedicated software. For Windows, the best option is Roboform Pro (£15 from www.roboform.com ). This will store and, crucially, encrypt all your passwords, so that you need to remember only one master password. Once the software is installed, whenever you visit a password-protected website, Roboform will pop up and enter the correct details. During setup it will take any passwords you have insecurely stored in Internet Explorer and house them safely in its own vault, while simultaneously deleting them from your web browser. A nice touch.

Roboform’s real party piece, however, is its form-filling. Enter your personal details once, and the next time you have to register with a website, you click a button and your address, telephone numbers and other details are automatically filled in. It makes the odd mistake, but performing corrections is quick. The mobile version, called Roboform2Go (£20), stores the software on a USB memory stick that you can take from computer to computer.

Mac users should opt for 1Password (£17.50 from 1passwd.com ), which shares many of Roboform’s features. If you don’t want to pay, then KeePass is a good open-source alternative (free from www.keepass.info ) but is Windows only. It’s less user-friendly than the paid-for options, but it can also keep computer log-in details safe.

The biggest problem with password-manager software is that if you forget the master password, you are snookered. Another downside is that the information resides only on one computer - no good if ordering your supermarket shopping at work and you’ve forgotten your password.

One solution to the latter problem is Clipperz (www.clipperz.com ), a free online password vault. This service can be set to automatically log you on to your favourite websites from any computer simply by entering a username and a master password, having told it what to remember initially. Storing passwords with Clipperz proved straightforward, but setup was a faff. It’s risky to store any sensitive passwords such as bank account logins on such a site, though. If your master password is cracked, the first you’ll know about it is when your bank account is emptied.

UNIVERSAL LOGINS

There have been many attempts to create a universal sign-in service, whereby you register one username and password that is then shared between different websites. The best of a bad bunch is Microsoft’s Passport, recently rebranded as Windows Live ID (tinyurl.com/5ppjt9 ). Sign up once and the same log-in gives access to Microsoft’s Hotmail and Xbox Live online gaming services, and the travel site Expedia (www.expedia.co.uk ) among a thin selection.

A promising new universal sign-in service called OpenID (openid.net ) has received the backing of Yahoo!, Google and Microsoft. The premise is great, but sadly many sites that claim to be OpenID compatible won’t play ball with one another. If the kinks are ironed out, this could end the need to register on every web-based service individually.

MOBILE PROTECTION

The arsenal of mobile gadgets in your pockets can also be better secured. The first line of defence on a mobile phone is to create your own basic four-digit Pin code. This can be set to protect the Sim card (to prevent calls being made), the phone (to protect data on the handset) - or both.

Usually, the code is entered every time the device is switched on, but this is pointless if your phone was on when it was lost or stolen. Far safer is setting the Pin to prompt you whenever the keypad is unlocked, but who can be bothered with that?

Smartphone owners can remotely cripple a stolen handset by sending a text message to it if it is running Kaspersky’s Mobile Security software (£14 a year at tinyurl.com/3umk7e ). The software asks whoever has the phone to enter a verification code and if this is not done the device is frozen. Newer iPods have a screen-lock Pin code to prevent thieves from accessing music or contacts stored on the device. See tinyurl.com/h6yte for instructions.

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