Saturday, May 5, 2007 - Power LogOn from Access Smart gives you some peace of mind when it comes to passwords.  The product lets you store up to 100 passwords on a smart card.  The card slides into a reader which connects to your PC with a USB cable.

I found the set up was easy.  I installed the software, plugged in the card reader, slipped in the smart card and got started.  I logged on to Yahoo! Mail and logged in.  The first time you use Power LogOn, a window will open and ask you if you want to save the log in information.  Click on "yes" and another window opens up.  This one lets you customize how you can log on to the website, including if you want the program to automatically log in. 

Once you save the information, the next time you want to go to that website you simply click on the Sphinx Log-On Manager.  Find the website and double click.  It will log in automatically to the site.  You don't even need to open your web browser before going to Sphinx.

Everyone in your family or at your office can have their own smart card with the passwords they use for their favorite websites.

Power LogOn can also help password protect programs on your computer.  One thing I do recommend.  Once you've got all of your passwords on the smart card, make a backup and keep the information in a safe place.  If you ever lose the smart card, just buy a new one from Access Smart and reload your passwords on to the new card.  I would not recommend Power LogOn for families with younger computer users.  Kids do have a tendency to lose things...including smart cards.  But if you're someone who can't remember your email password from your banking password, give Power LogOn a try.

The PC version is $129.  A laptop version is ten dollars more.  Power LogOn works with Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape browsers.  I did not try it with Firefox, although the company says it will work with it.

For more info, check out www.access-smart.com.