I have no memory.  Things go into the vast wasteland that is my brain, and never come out.  If I didn’t have my pocket pc with me to remind me to do everything, then nothing would get done.  But I jest.  I’ve always needed something to track all my passwords and secret codes, and things I didn’t want anyone having access to, even if they were to get ahold of my pocket pc.  I just didn’t know that was what I wanted.

At the same time, I used to wonder what these wallet programs were?  Perhaps they are misnamed.  Maybe they should be called code keepers.  Regardless, I have become addicted to Flexwallet.  It happened by accident.  A couple years ago, just before Webis bought it out, it was on sale for $5.00.  So I bought it.  I didn’t know what it was but I figured, "how bad can it be?"

I was in for a pleasant surprise.  It works like a list program, yet it gives you "templates" to choose from, as well as friendly icons. 

Ease of Use

It takes less than a minute to enter a new "card".  If I find a new website I like, for example, I can quickly open FlexWallet, then enter the url of the website, and if I have a user name and ID for the site, I just enter that into my wallet.  It is securely saved.  I may forget it in a minute, but FlexWallet won’t. 

A wallet consists of categories.  Each category, such as credit cards, websites, email accounts, bank accounts, etc., consists of cards.  Each card has the information you deem important.  But how do you decide what’s important?  It could take hours to develop cards for all your different categories.  That’s where "templates" come in handy.  Templates are premade cards with all the information you will most likely want for that category.  They also have handy icons to make them easily distinguishable.  A finance icon has a money bag, a website has a computer icon, and an ID card has an ID card icon.  Simple.

Templates

Here’s an example:

This is a credit card template.  You just fill in the appropriate information and you are good to go.  You can change the name to "Harris Bank Credit Card" or "Wife’s Credit Card" or whatever you like.  Since Flexwallet has a desktop version as well as a pocket pc version, you can do this on either one. 

I prefer to do most of the heavy lifting on my desktop.

You can see that the icon looks just like a credit card.  So it’s easy to spot.  Lots of people forego getting a list program and just use this instead.

There are templates for virtually anything you can think of.  And you can make your own templates as well.  The fun never ends! 

Let’s take a look at the next picture to see what other templates are available.

Categories

Now let’s take a look at a wallet.

Wallets have three panes.  The pane on the left shows an explorer view of our wallet.  I have 2 main categories, Business and Personal.  You can organize your wallet anyway you want.  You’ll notice that Travel is highlighted, so in the middle pain, American Airlines is also highlighted, and my travel template on the right pane is showing my information for American Airlines.

You can have any number of sublevels of categories in the left pane.  You can see in the Personal Category, by Finance, I have a plus sign.  This shows that if you press the plus sign, there are subcategories underneath.

When opening a wallet, you are greeted by a passcode keyboard:

Encryption

"FlexWallet uses a combination of several strong encryption algorithms. A 128-bit key is generated dynamically from the password you create, and is used to encrypt your data. The 128-bit key meets US export restrictions, and is as strong as the encryption used by Web browsers to transmit sensitive information like credit card and bank account numbers."  That’s from the FlexWallet website.  I couldn’t say it better myself.

Synching

Flexwallet desktop will sync with your pocket pc as long as you point it in the right direction.  The easiest way to do so is to put your wallets into your pocket pc "my documents".  The synchronization wizard will automatically sync these wallets.  You can sync wallets from other locations if you use third party software such as Mighty Sync.

You can have as many wallets as you like.  I only use one.  But I can see where some people may keep many.  Whatever floats your boat.

Pocket PC View

What does it look like on your pocket pc?  Exactly the same.

And when I click on Business / Travel…

Alas, it looks just like it does on the desktop, but it just shows one pane at a time. 

Flexwallet is easy to use.  Real easy.  It takes almost no time to enter a new card.  This software has become one of my most valuable items for its convenience.  Now I don’t have to remember anything.  And if my real wallet is ever stolen, I have my credit card numbers and phone numbers so I can immediately handle that situation.  I enjoy having this extra brain memory.  Additionally, Webis constantly makes free upgrades to their software, has a great forum, and wonderful support.  FlexWallet is a must-have.

Highlights:

•  built in password generator
• Secure encryption of all your information using redundant 128-bit algorithms
• Card Level Synching for multiple wallets
• Automatic Backup of files on Desktop

Webis FlexWallet Website

Price $24.95 or $12.48 for Webis Customers

[tags]wallet, webis, encryption, jamm, just another mobile monday[/tags]