The 1Password interface looks like a bank vault—there’s one main master password screen when you first start the program. Folders on the left hold your account info. There are also categories for creating and storing secure notes you make to yourself (“remember to hire a private detective”), software license information including serial numbers, and a wallet for storing credit cards and bank info. You can also drag and drop applications into the vault to save the license info. However, the app is most useful from the Web, where you can save and re-use most of the passwords and stored information.

1Password worked fine with Safari and Firefox. Past versions of 1Password required a plug-in to work with Google Chrome, but with version 3.5, the software supports Chrome out of the box.

One exceptionally cool feature is called 1Passwordanywhere. Essentially, it means you can upload the master file to an online service like Dropbox.com, and then view the file online. You don’t even need to app installed, so it works with Linux and Windows computers. (This works because the master file contains the Web formatting required to view passwords, serial numbers, and any other data.) There’s also an iPhone and iPod touch version of the app for mobile password management.

Speaking of 1Password's multi-platform support, a little bit on how licensing works. If you use 1Password on different platforms (Mac, Windows, iOS), you need one license per user per platform. You can then use Dropbox to sync your 1Password keychain across the different platforms.

There are a few small nits about the program, though. One slight glitch I found is that if you have a stored password, and want to change it, the program seems to keep assuming you want to use the old password until you go into the vault and make the change. I'd prefer a way to do that in an easier way. Another slight issue (I think Agile would call this a feature) is that there is absolutely no way to recover your master password if you forget it. I’d prefer some incredibly secure online storage system where you could recover it. And finally, I wish there was a small business version where a company can use an app on a server to store all the logins and passwords for everything employees do online—that way, you can make back-ups of that master file.