If I had to describe the new Dashlane 1.1 (free) password manager in a single word, I'd call it elegant. Dashlane handles the same essential tasks as other password managers, but with a better appearance and a minimum of user effort. It also boasts features you just won't find in the competition. At present it only supports Firefox and Chrome; Internet Explorer support is coming in "a few weeks."

Good Start
Right from the start, Dashlane makes an impression. Other password managers order you to create a strong master password for data encryption. Some of them will rate your password's strength. Dashlane offers a wizard that helps you devise a memorable but unguessable password. It uses a technique similar to one I wrote about recently, combining a memorable sentence with a memorable number.

During the install process you can import any passwords you may have stored in Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer. Dashlane can also import passwords from LastPass 1.72 (free, 5 stars) and RoboForm Desktop 7 ($29.95 direct, 4 stars), as well as 1Password, Keepass, and Password Wallet.

At present, LastPass handles some unusual login configurations that Dashlane doesn't, so when I imported my over-200 LastPass passwords some of them didn't come through. Those that did worked perfectly.

After installation Dashlane invites the user to enter contact, address, and credit card information. RoboForm, LastPass, Kaspersky Password Manager 4 ($24.95 direct, 4 stars) and others also store credit card data, but Dashlane does it with style. For each card you can specify the bank name and card color. When you're filling in credit card data on a Web form, you'll easily pick the right card by its color and bank logo.

Almost all password managers include the option to automatically log out after the computer is idle for a specified time, but often this feature isn't obvious. Dashlane makes it easy. By default it logs out after 30 minutes of inactivity. The first time it does so, it pops up and asks whether you want to keep that setting, change the timeout, or turn off automatic logout.

To Sync or Not To Sync?
Dashlane can operate as a standalone application on one single computer, or it can sync through your online account to make your data available on multiple Windows or Mac computers. The choice is yours, and you change your mind later if desired. In standalone mode it's similar to RoboForm Desktop 7; with syncing enabled Dashlane more closely resembles RoboForm Everywhere 7 ($19.95 direct, 4.5 stars).

Keeping all your sensitive data on your own PC seems intrinsically more secure than syncing through the cloud, but Dashlane goes to great lengths to ensure your synced data's safety. As with LastPass, it doesn't store your master password anywhere. If you forget the master password, you just have to start over.

When syncing with the cloud, Dashlane uses 256-bit AES encryption end to end. It derives an encryption key in part from the master password and in part from a device-specific key that's generated when you initially authorize Dashlane to run on that device. No unencrypted data leaves your system.

If you wish, you can limit what Dashlane syncs between computers. By default it syncs login credentials, personal data, and purchase history but doesn't sync credit card numbers and security codes.

A malicious or hacked website could conceivably host code that would simulate mouse clicks to trigger Dashlane's password or form filling abilities. According to a Dashlane whitepaper, the programmers headed off this kind of attack by using only C++ code in user-facing interactions, no Javascript at all. The paper concludes that a "large scale brute force attack" is impossible by either external hackers or a rogue employee.

Slick Password Management
A very few password managers, among them SplashID Key Safe ($29.95 direct, 2 stars) and mSecure Password Manager ($19.95 direct, 2 stars), force the user to manually enter password data. Like all the better products, Dashlane automatically captures your username and password when you log in to a secure site. It pops up a window that lets you change the default name for the login item, assign it a category, and specify whether to automatically log in to this site. You can also tell it to never save credentials for a particular site.

That's one of the few popup windows you'll see. When you revisit a site that has stored credentials, Dashlane logs in for you or, if you declined automatic login, fills in the credentials. If a given site has two or more sets of login credentials, you just click in the username or password field and pick from the list. To me that's more elegant than a popup or drop-down query asking you which you want.

The main Dashlane window lists all stored logins ordered by name, category, or most used. In the category view you can see how many items each category holds and expand or collapse categories to see the items. Clicking an item lets you edit its details. Clicking the item's play button opens the site in your browser and logs in.

As you start typing in the search box, Dashlane displays all items that contain the text you've typed. New in version 1.1, you can click a login item in the search results can launch the site in your browser.

Kaspersky, RoboForm, and LastPass add a browser toolbar button whose menu gives you direct access to all stored logins; not so Dashlane. Clicking the Dashlane button lets you open the main application and launch stored logins from within it. You can also log out or send feedback, but that's all.

Password Testing
In testing Dashlane handled almost all sites I tried, but a few oddball ones threw it off. For example, my local library's website requires the library card number and a numeric PIN for login and treats both as passwords. That was too different for Dashlane. On request, LastPass can simply capture all data fields on a page. Kaspersky's advanced edit menu handles just about any quirk. Dashlane aims for a less geeky, more streamlined approach, but as a result oddball logins may throw it off.

Dashlane also has trouble with two-page logins like those found at bankofamerica.com and cheverontexacocards.com. "We are working on making this feature much more universal," said Dashlane's CEO.

Personal Data
If you followed the prompts after installing Dashlane, you already have contact and address information recorded, and possibly a credit card as well. From the Dashlane client you can expand on this information. For contact information, you can add any number of identities, email addresses, phone numbers, physical addresses, employers, and websites. I was pleased to find that Dashlane automatically added email addresses it found in the login credentials I imported; that's smart!

As noted, Dashlane prompts you to enter one credit card during post-install configuration. You can add any number of credit or debit cards; PayPal accounts too. By selecting the bank name and choosing a color to match the physical card you'll make choosing the right card easy. Dashlane was smart enough to automatically copy my PayPal account information from the saved login to the payments area. Version 1.1 adds logo and image support for Discovery, Diners Club, and JCB cards.

Dashlane will also record five kinds of IDs: passport, driver's license, social security card, tax identification, and ID card. As with credit cards, Dashlane visually identifies your saved IDs. Your social security number appears on a social security card. The driver's license images even match the style of the state that issued the license. Passports for many major countries have the style and color of that country's actual passports. It's a nice touch.

Purchasing Power
Dashlane's ability to fill forms with personal and payment information makes online shopping smooth and easy. Click in any field of a Web form and click the desired identity, and Dashlane will fill in all the fields it can match. Click in a payment field and you get a popup display of your saved payment cards. By default you must re-enter the master password each time you fill in credit card information.

That sounds pretty easy, but Dashlane can make online shopping even easier with "express checkout." When you point the mouse to a button that Dashlane recognizes as triggering the checkout process, it displays four floating animated arrows around the button. Click the button, choose the identity and payment card you want to use, and Dashlane takes care of the rest. You won't need to touch the keyboard, just click when clicking is required.

When the transaction is finished, Dashlane offers to record your purchase for later reference. Back in the product's main window you can view a list of all purchases organized by date, merchant, category, or amount. Opening up an item you can add personal notes or assign a category. If there's ever a problem with an order, you can even view screenshots snapped during the purchase. I haven't seen this feature in any similar product.

Security Dashboard
One major benefit of using a password manager is that you don't have to remember all the individual passwords for your secure sites. That being the case, you can use dreadfully complex passwords. Chances are good, though, that you've got a lot of poor passwords in play. Using Dashlane's security dashboard you can correct that problem.

Similar in some ways to the LastPass Security Challenge, Dashlane's security dashboard lists all of your saved logins and rates the password for each. It assigns a safety percentage, reports the number of sites where you've used that same password, and adds a security level description: super safe, safe, not quite so safe, or very unsafe.

Super safe passwords are already fine. At all other levels a play button at far right serves to launch and log in to the site. After that, you'll navigate to the site's change password dialog. When you click in the field for entering a new password, Dashlane displays a button offering to generate a strong password. When you click it, Dashlane creates and applies the new password.

RoboForm, Kaspersky, and LastPass all include password generation, but not as seamlessly as Dashlane. On the other hand, they let the user make decisions about password length and character sets, so as to match each site's password policy. Dashlane may add advanced control of password generation; for now, the product does its best to match password policies and, according to the company, gets it right over 99 percent of the time.

Yes, it takes some effort to correct a weak password, but Dashlane eases the process as much as possible. Start with your most sensitive sites, do a few every day, and soon you'll be thoroughly protected.

Dashlane Online
By logging in at the Dashlane website, you can access your stored credentials from any Internet-equipped computer. When you attempt to log in, Dashlane sends a four-digit code to your email account. The code is only functional for 30 minutes. Logging in requires your username, your password, and this code, so it's significantly more secure than username and password alone.

You can choose to register the computer, meaning you won't need to get a code next time you log in. There's also a link to download and install the Dashlane client.

As with RoboForm Everywhere, when you log in without installing the software you get a read-only view of your stored logins. From here you can copy the password, click to open the site, and paste in the password.

Earn Points for Premiums
The biggest change in Dashlane 1.1 is a new system of points and badges. A new box at lower left reports your current point balance and prompts you to complete your profile information. Completing components of the profile earns you points, and reaching 100 percent gets you a badge called "The Works," which comes with a bonus of 500 points.

Other badges relate to such things as the number of site logins you've saved in DashLane, the number of times you've used the product for automatic login, the number of devices you sync with DashLane, and the percentage of your saved passwords considered safe by DashLane's security dashboard. The badge system makes a game out of improving your password security; it's a clever idea.

Just about any action you take within the program earns points. Generating a strong password is worth 45 points, for example. Syncing a new device or sharing DashLane on a social network earns 100 points. Each login you save gets you 15 points, up to a maximum of 300. If you recommend Dashlane to a friend who actually signs up, that's worth a whopping 25,000 points.

With enough points you can unlock premium features. At present iPhone support is the only premium feature, and the Dashlane iPhone app is still going through Apple's approval process. Unlocking this feature costs 25,000 points. The company plans to expand with many more premium features, available either through earning points or with a paid premium subscription.

What's Not Here
In order to retain its simplicity, Dashlane omits some features found in the competition. For example, RoboForm and Kaspersky can capture passwords for applications, not just websites, as can LastPass 1.72 Premium ($12 direct, 5 stars). LastPass Premium and RoboForm can be configured to require fingerprint identification; LastPass Premium includes quite a few other two-factor authentication options. I don't necessarily expect these features to show up in Dashlane.

Amazing Debut
As noted, Dashlane doesn't have every password management feature, but it handles all the important tasks with a strong focus on ease of use. The new badge system makes improving your password security fun, and earning points lets you unlock premium features. This product has only been out for a few weeks, yet it has already gained some clever new features. When it matures a bit, I can picture myself switching. LastPass 1.72 remains Editors' Choice for password management, but Dashlane joins it as co-Editors' Choice. I'm quite impressed.

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