What program will let me store a password on a computer?

December 5, 2014 9:28 AM

Is there a free Windows 7 application that would autofill a password in a separate stand-alone application (not a website!), without enabling someone to go digging and view the password?

My classroom has a podium computer on which a stand-alone lecture capture application is run. This application requires a password. There is no "save the password" feature. We can't give the password out to everyone because the password could be used to log on to the webapp version of this program, which would give anyone access to do nefarious things (like delete recordings of the class). However, we need every student to be able to walk up to the computer and initiate a lecture recording, as we have a rotating circus of lecturers who can't all be trained on the system or given the password. In other words, the administration has made this the student body's responsibility, but, since attendance is not required, we can't count on having the same person (or even the same 5 people) attend every lecture, so we need to be able to make this something anyone can do...without revealing the password.

posted by lizzicide to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

Would LastPass work for you? Once you've enabled it with the master password, you can set it to log on automatically to the application. The only drawback I see is that someone could access the LastPass vault and, once there, expose the password although I believe Settings will allow you to require the master password before the vault can be accessed.
posted by DrGail at 9:36 AM on December 5, 2014

I was about to post a message saying that LastPass doesn't work with stand-alone applications, but I see that I was wrong (good thing I Googled it). The relevant page is here. Ya learn sumthin' new every day.
posted by alex1965 at 11:07 AM on December 5, 2014

Response by poster: Thanks for the suggestions, all. LastPass appears to only work with stand-alone applications using a premium account. There's a 14-day trial, so I suppose I'll try it out and, if it works, shell out the $12/year until I graduate, at which point it can be someone else's problem... But if anyone has a better solution that's free, I'm all ears!
posted by lizzicide at 11:30 AM on December 5, 2014

1Password has an unlimited demonstration period, with restrictions after thirty days. If the restriction is a limited number of passwords, it should work for you, yes?
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 12:06 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

AutoHotKey using the IfWinExist command?
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 12:43 PM on December 5, 2014

KeePass can do this with some tinkering - check the Auto-Type functionality.
posted by kris.reiss at 1:12 PM on December 5, 2014 [2 favorites]

I love my 1Password. It works across my Macs, my iPhones/iPads, and my work PC.

I paid a bunch for it, but it comes with peace of mind.
posted by cjorgensen at 1:45 PM on December 5, 2014

RoboForm can autofill in windows applications and supports the creation of a Master Password.
posted by softlord at 6:01 PM on December 5, 2014

Was it me, I'd say spend the $$ for LastPass. It's the best, I've used it for years, it's got a lot more functionality than just passwords, too.
posted by dancestoblue at 6:42 PM on December 5, 2014 [1 favorite]