A Better Password Screen with Nice Start

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=46392">http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&amp;platformId=2&amp;productType=2&amp;catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&amp;productId=46392</a><br /><br />I've been testing this application for a couple of days now, and it's fantastic - it's now a standard part of my Pocket PC software install. It's a very straight-ahead software tool that does one thing: it addresses the shortcomings of the Microsoft password protection. Has it ever frustrated you that the password screen only offers you the time? This application adds the date, a quick calendar, program and storage information, as well as battery life and a large analog clock. Slick!<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/dunn2002/nicestart.gif" /><br /><br />There's no demo on Handango - the application does exactly what you see, and it does it well. <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0&sectionId=0&productId=46392">$5.95 is the selling price</a>, and I think everyone should have this app on their device.<br /><br />Speaking of device security, let's do a little poll.

[Anthony Caruana]

Great app - just downloaded and installed it. Looks great.

This is the sort of functionality that should have built into the device. But then agin there are so moany things that "should" have been there like decent file manager...

Thanks

[brianchris]

Looks like a great little app I probably will end up buying. BUT, looks like one very important feature (IMO) of the default password screen is missing in this app: Owner name and phone number!! That is a great little touch, because if you loose it, not only can someone not get your data, but they have the opportunity to call you to arrange for it to be returned (I know, but there are *some* good souls left in the world).

Maybe they can add that in a future update, or maybe its already there, and I've just missed it. If so I appologize.

Overall, great app!!

-Brian

[brianchris]

Looks like a great little app I probably will end up buying. BUT, looks like one very important feature (IMO) of the default password screen is missing in this app: Owner name and phone number!! That is a great little touch, because if you loose it, not only can someone not get your data, but they have the opportunity to call you to arrange for it to be returned (I know, but there are *some* good souls left in the world).

Maybe they can add that in a future update, or maybe its already there, and I've just missed it. If so I appologize.

Overall, great app!!

-Brian

Ahh....Maybe that contact icon at the bottom of the window opens the owner information? Could you someone confirm? TIA!!

-Brian

[bdeli]

Looks like a great little app I probably will end up buying. BUT, looks like one very important feature (IMO) of the default password screen is missing in this app: Owner name and phone number!! That is a great little touch, because if you loose it, not only can someone not get your data, but they have the opportunity to call you to arrange for it to be returned (I know, but there are *some* good souls left in the world).

Maybe they can add that in a future update, or maybe its already there, and I've just missed it. If so I appologize.

Overall, great app!!

-Brian



Ahh....Maybe that contact icon at the bottom of the window opens the owner information? Could you someone confirm? TIA!!

-Brian

The contact button at the bottom will pop up a dialog box with the owner info details.

[Dave Conger]

How secure is it? The standard PPC protection is very secure (as far as I have heard). Does this base itself off that?

[Venturello]

For sensible stuff on my pocketpc (hell, all my bancking information is in there) I use pocketlock from Applian (www.applian.com).

VERY recommended for anyone with sensible information, either on your pocketpc or pc. Give it a try! Nice support, the author has personally solved problems I've had and taken in suggestions (monthes ago).


PD. By the way, I've never liked the built in password method, or any power-on password protection. I use my iPaq all the time, turn it off and on countless times, and I dont want something like password protect bugging me.

Yes, this app does look sweet as hell, congrats to the author for the NICE idea and UI.

Oh, another thing, a small story. &lt;mode rant=on> On a weekend trip some two monthes ago, we went bycicling to Banyoles, a beautiful lakeside town near Barcelona. As usual, I had my iPaq on me, this time on a little bag under my bycicle's seat. Which, when I answered a cell phone call, I left opened... 4 hours later, now at a beach in Costa Brava, I get a phone call from a guy telling me he had found my iPaq. I didnt even know it was missing!! He found it while jogging on the same path I went on my bike. Whatever, traveled back to Banyoles, gave the guy the most expensive bottle of Rioja wine I would find at a market on the way there, and got my iPaq back from him. I didn't have my owner information screen on. Totally clueless, the guy had found his way to the owner information icon on the control panel, and phoned me. He had no idea of what the device was, but he (and after a little demo :roll: ) wanted one!! Nice to find some more honest people!

[Ed Hansberry]

The contact button at the bottom will pop up a dialog box with the owner info details.
Hrm... I would prefer it just showed it. If some nice old lady found it and turned it on, she woudn't have a clue about icons.

As has been asked, is this its own password protection or does it just put a nice UI on the integrated Pocket PC security?

[Jason Dunn]

How secure is it? The standard PPC protection is very secure (as far as I have heard). Does this base itself off that?

Yes, it's really just a skin for the built-in password.

I've also asked the author for a digital clock, since I can't read the analog one very well. ;-)

[Gerard]

In my beta testing of VisKeyCE, I found it to be incredibly effective. I once spent a few hours trying to crack my 8-point 'password', actually a series of points on an image of my choosing. I couldn't quite remember the password, as I'd been sleepy when I created it the night before. Lost a bit of data between backups, as a hard reset was the only way out. Fully landscape compatible, uses any image you like, and they supply a skinner for the PC if you want to use that way to generate images of a size to fit standard portrait mode. Thay say it's about a billion to one shot to guess a 4 point password, so imagine the security with a 10-point password!

http://www.viskey.com/viskeyce/index.html

If you are wanting owner info on the screen, just insert some text into the image you choose using any decent image processor software (Pocket Artist makes this easy).

[yawanag]

I'd like to know if anyone out there has installed this and has a T-Mobile. I installed it because it said it was compatible with T-Mobile. I am now waiting for T-Mobile to send me a new unit. It screwed it up royally.

I was the one that raved about this app. and passed it on to Jason. Now I wish I'd never installed it.

I don't usually down a product, I install it, if I like it I keep it, delete if I don't. This is the first time, in almost 2 yrs., that I have installed anything that no soft, hard reset could not fix.

[brianchris]

The contact button at the bottom will pop up a dialog box with the owner info details.
Hrm... I would prefer it just showed it. If some nice old lady found it and turned it on, she woudn't have a clue about icons.

As has been asked, is this its own password protection or does it just put a nice UI on the integrated Pocket PC security?

Couldn't agree more. Although having the contact button at the bottom is better than nothing, why not just have the owner name and phone number displayed instead (or in addition to the full contact icon).

-Brian

[DavidHorn]

65% + 34% = 99%

The forum's math needs looking into ... or maybe it just needs to be told how to round numbers correctly.

I'm in a picky mood today ;)

[Jason Dunn]

I'd like to know if anyone out there has installed this and has a T-Mobile. I installed it because it said it was compatible with T-Mobile. I am now waiting for T-Mobile to send me a new unit. It screwed it up royally.

I installed this on my generic HTC hardware, which is mechanically identical to your T-Mobile and had no problems.

[Jonathan1]

It would be a bit difficult to fit any more info on that screen, at least not without getting a very busy screen, but instead of an icon maybe it should say: Tap here for owner information. All in all a very slick application.
I’ve used password protection on my PDA since I was a Palm user way back when. When identity theft has become the norm now a days I think a 4 second login process on a Pocket PC is a safety measure well worth the annoyance factor. Of couse that's me *shrugs*

[Gerard]

I only used a password during that VisKeyCE beta test series, and then not all the time. There was a guy in the forums about a year and a half ago who was whining about how the mechanics had got fingerprints all over his iPAQ screen, played with his settings, and added a couple of new recordings when he'd left it sitting on the front seat of his BMW at the garage. I kinda snapped at him, and he was angrily defensive. But I still don't get it. How could he, or anyone, leave a $1000 machine (here in Canada they cost that stock, and with the average user installing at least an SD card and a couple of hundred in software, it approaches that in US dollars anyway) sitting around casually??? Does money grow in an orchard somewhere? Or is everyone comfortable leaving all their personal data lying around, password or not?
I do appreciate that there are certain environments where a PDA must be abandoned for as much as an hour at a time, for instance in an office cubicle while charging, or in a car mount in the case of roving reps using GPS or the like. But for most of us, how on earth could you lose your Pocket PC?
Okay, okay, the bike bag thing I can sort of see too. I did lose a wallet once, about 20 years ago, while riding my mountainbike over some pretty rough and muddy terrain. Thought my army jacket pocket was buttoned, or at least deep enough... I was wrong, and that wallet was gone for good. Taught me never to trust buttons and zippers to memory again. I double-check, everything, always. Especially any bag or pocket containing my iPAQ or Casio. And when I leave one or the other at home, which is rarely, I at least take a couple of CF cards with fresh backups along, and my home is quite well secured.
Sorry if this seems beligerant. That's not my intention. It just seems odd to me that there are now so many security apps available, when my Pocket PC is only likely to get into the wrong hands if I die. And then I won't much care, will I?

[Jonathan1]

Heh. Well lets see. airport bump an grab scams. Placing the pocket pc in a coat and accidentally leaving it in the pocket. How about the device in a woman's purse and that gets snagged? Or what about it being packed in a laptop bag and that gets swiped. Or how about someone breaking into your house and stealing computers and such and grabbing someone's pocket pc while they are at it. (Granted at that point there are bigger concerns then just the PPC.)

Just because you can't think up a method of a PPC getting stolen or lost doesn't mean it can't happen. I've seen execs in a conference room get up for lunch and leave all their electronic crap lying on the table. This includes laptops, and PDA's. Even though in this case its suppose to be a secure environment there is such thing as internal theft.

[Gerard]

Airport bump and grab/pickpockets: Yeah, right, I'm gonna be so dumb as to have a $1000 computer in a pocket in an airport. It goes in a shoulderbag of very tough construction while I am going anywhere there will be close contact with large crowds, attached also at my belt. It they want to tale me along, they get the PPC, I guess...
Execs leaving PPC on conference tables: arrogant idiots, who can easily afford to replace something so they think little of such casual and stupid behavior.
Purse snatchings: Agreed, many women's purses are ajoke for security of any sort. But fashion is soooo important, right? Get a decently made bag and never trust the strap on a shoulder alone. And hey, if someone has a knife, of worse, give it up, unless you are dang sure you can get the weapon before it gets into your guts. No thing is worth your life.
Home break-ins: I scarcely think a Pocket PC is going to get noticed, but if so, well, too bad. These thisng happen. But does it really represent a significant market force for so many computer security programs, especially PDA programs? Most likely you're out, with your PPC, when such a thing happens.
Coat pocket: Forgetfulness. Hmm. I guess it happens. But I forget stuff I meant to do, people to call, birthdays, appointmments... that's why I got a THING which is capable of 'remembering' for me. I don't forget things, or very rarely. Oh sure, if someone pisses me off at a bank I might leave my sunglasses on the counter for about half a minute. But that's me. Really, how many people really leave their computers lying around? I'm curious? The guy with the Beemer may indeed be indicative of a sort of money-blindness, assuming a sort of invulnerability because there's a platinum-coloured rectangle of plastic in their wallet.
Am I WAY off the mark here? See, for a piece of software to become profitable, it must sell at least a thousand copies or more, right? There's a ton of hours dedicated to writing the code, more time and effort and money invested in promotion, testing, technical support, ISP fees... So it's probably going to have to be more like 5000 copies of an app like this to make any real money after all the bills are paid. I don't see it happening. And yet there are a handful of developers who obviously are counting on different thinking than mine, so I question my own perceptions here. What is the real world average working man or woman thinking about this software? Or are there a lot of those here? I'm self-employed, at home, so I don't count.

[Jeff Rutledge]

Has anyone tried this with an iPAQ 3800? I read on another board that there was an issue so I'm hesitant to install. I hope it's just a one-off as I (of course), read the post after I'd purchased it. :?

[Anthony Caruana]

I guess that this app sits over the PPC security as when I sync I am prompted for a password on the PC.

Also, athough the UI only shows a number pad for entry of numeric passwords, you can do alpha numerics as well (keyboards popup on status bar

[Jeff Rutledge]

Has anyone tried this with an iPAQ 3800? I read on another board that there was an issue so I'm hesitant to install. I hope it's just a one-off as I (of course), read the post after I'd purchased it. :?

OK, I went ahead and installed. No problems. So anybody out there with the same concern...there's at least one success story.

Also, I sent an email to the developer asking to support the today theme pic as the background. Not sure if that's simple to do or not, but as an extensive user of themes, I'd find that a great feature.

[Anthony Caruana]

I find it intersting that only a third of PPC users that responded are using password protection on their PPC. Are the other two thirds using some other form of security? If so what are you using? As well as power on protection I am using eWallet with a password to protect passwords, etc

[JF in Detroit]

When I used a Palm I was able to invoke the password protection mode by dragging the stylus from the bottom of the screen to the top. That way I could turn on the protection exactly when I wanted to.

With my iPAQ, the protection is either on or off. That doesn't work very well for me. :cry:

[Jonathan1]

When I used a Palm I was able to invoke the password protection mode by dragging the stylus from the bottom of the screen to the top. That way I could turn on the protection exactly when I wanted to.

With my iPAQ, the protection is either on or off. That doesn't work very well for me. :cry:

Lost me. If you are password protecting the screen it generally means that you are not planning on using the device for a few..so why would you leave it on? It’s not like there is a boot period where it takes time to turn it back on. :?:

[JF in Detroit]

Lost me. If you are password protecting the screen it generally means that you are not planning on using the device for a few..so why would you leave it on? It’s not like there is a boot period where it takes time to turn it back on. :?:

To say it another way, I almost always do not want password protection enabled. On the palm, you can invoke password protection without opening a dialog box. You then must provide your password to have access to your data, at which time password protection is automatically disabled until you turn it on again.

With my iPAQ, I must go thru the rigmarole of dialog boxes just to invoke password protection, and then again to disable it.

[brntcrsp]

anyone have any specific experience with a Jornada 56x? Since HP had their own password protection scheme does it interfere with this app?

[Mona13]

I have purchased both Nice Start and DockWare. I like the Nice Start for when I first turn on my PPC and DockWare for when I leave my desk. I have DockWare in the "Start Menu" so I can start it quickly. I have the automatic time set for the longest time.

My PPC is in the cradle anyway and I really like the rotating pictures. I haven't checked out the pictures that came with the program, I use my family pictures.

[Wiggin]

I find it intersting that only a third of PPC users that responded are using password protection on their PPC. Are the other two thirds using some other form of security? If so what are you using? As well as power on protection I am using eWallet with a password to protect passwords, etc

Arca
As part of the 2/3rds that does not use "turn-on" password protection, I thought you might like to consider another perspective.

My 3850 turns on/off many many times throughout the day as I use the PPC to access bits of info here/there/everywhere. MOST of that information is not sensitive (my calendar and contact list is not a matter of National security). IE info, music files, ebooks, etc etc... no problem. The few bits of sensitive info that are on the PPC are kept inside my CodeWallet file, which IS PROTECTED by password protection. So, if my trusty companion falls out of my unzipped pocket, or is lifted out from under my watchful eye, I feel pretty safe.

Having to type in a password just to see my Today screen, or quickly check a contact, and then having to type it AGAIN 30 secs later when I need one more tidbit was very frustrating. So, I will pass on instant-on password protection...there are WAY too many options for keeping sensitive info secure on a PPC that are much more user friendly. :wink:

Now, that said, I'm curious why there are so MANY folks (+33%) using instant on security??!! :ninja:
(just kiddin y'all! Power to the Protected! :way to go: )

[someppcuser]

This app is not very robust.

If you just type in your password then fine, but what I find weird is that you have access to the sound level, input device choice, etc. If you play with this, the app crashes and you have to soft reset.

Seeing this makes me wonder if we're really protected with this or if one could buffer overflow some register to gain access to your device.

[Janak Parekh]

Now, that said, I'm curious why there are so MANY folks (+33%) using instant on security??!! :ninja:
Well, on most PPC 2002 units (or so I thought) you could tell it "don't prompt unless I leave it off for X hours". I set it to 1 hour on my 3870, so that's a good compromise for me between security and convenience. IMHO it solves your situation, Wiggin.

--bdj

[Wiggin]

bdj
You're absolutely right, and I'm glad you've pointed it out. The variable timing would def cut down on the annoyance factor. But the key is...what data are you protecting? Since my daily comings/goings, emails, and contact info is not much of a find for anyone picking up my PPC, I have no need for instant-on protection. All the good stuff is application protected... so voila, I get to avoid the annoyance all the time. :wink:
But if you have the need, and it sounds like you do, instant-on is the way to go! :way to go:
Cheers

[andersw]

Has anyone tried this with an iPAQ 3800? I read on another board that there was an issue so I'm hesitant to install. I hope it's just a one-off as I (of course), read the post after I'd purchased it. :?

I have experienced som problems with this software and my iPAQ 3850. After installation it worked just fine for about one day and after that my iPAQ locked up after having logged in (I never got to the Today screen). After about 30 attempts I was finally able to "get in" and decided to uninstall the software. I am now using the standard password manager and it´s working just fine...