Security pros say it’s best to use a different password for every login you use as a precaution against hacking. So, for example, it’s wise to use a unique password for Facebook, a unique password for Yahoo Mail, etc. Unfortunately, it can be really hard to remember all of these logins and securely keep track of them.

1Password does an excellent job of staying out of the way. When you do register for a new site, or fill out a form at Amazon.com to buy a product, or fill in a serial number for an online app, the program pops up in an unassuming way and prompts you to name the entry and save the information. Then, when you go back to that site or want to use the saved data again, it’s easy to retrieve.

The program watches carefully for opportunities to save passwords. For example, I use a music streaming service (it’s one that is only for music reviewers called PlayMPE) and 1Password noticed I was logging in, popped up a dialog box to save the password, and then went away.

1Password also watches for and saves local logins, such as those for your Mail username and password, file sharing (to access a network drive or the files stored on another computer), and back-up tools. You can save credit card information in a secure identity that you re-use by selecting the card number from a drop-down menu in Safari (there is no default option for card numbers, though.) For example, you can create an identity for PayPal that stores all of your account info. When you go online to make a purchase with PayPal, 1Password can provide all of the information you need for the transaction.