When you start PasswordPod, the main window will appear on your screen and a red icon will appear in the system tray on the bottom right-hand side of your screen. If you click on the Hide passwords window at the top right hand corner of the window, the window disappears, but the program can still be controlled using the system tray icon - just click with the right mouse button on the padlock to see the popup menu.

Controlling password manager from system tray

You can double-click with the left mouse button on the system tray icon to alternately show or hide the main window.

To ensure that the main window remains in view and doesn't disappear to the background when you click on other windows, choose the "Always On Top" option from the View menu.

To unlock and view your secure data, press the Open secure data file button on the toolbar. What happens next depends on whether this is the first time you have run PasswordPod or not:

If this is the first time you have run the program, you will be asked to choose a name and location for the secure data file (you can change this later if you want).

Secure data file for containing passwords and other login details

You will then be asked to choose a master password, which you will need to enter each time you want to access the data in the file.

Master password for storing secret information

You need to re-enter your chosen password in the confirmation field to ensure that you didn't make any typing mistakes. Choose a password that is easy for you to remember but difficult for anyone else to guess. You must remember the password from now on, otherwise you won't be able to access your data. You can change the password later by selecting the Change Password option from the Edit menu, but you'll need to know the original one to be able to do that.

So far, we've explained what to do when creating a new data file. If you have used the program before and already have a secure data file, you will just be asked to enter the master password that you chose previously.

Master password for secure login data

By clicking on the Change button, you can specify a different file.

Having provided a suitable master password, your data is now unlocked and you have access to it. The system tray icon will change from a red padlock to a green one. As you make changes to your data by adding, deleting or editing records, PasswordPod writes the changes to your file in encrypted form - unencrypted data is never written to the file.

Any records you've already created are shown in the tree on the left hand side of the main window and are also listed alphabetically in the drop-down list on the right hand side. When you select a record, its details are displayed.

To create a new record, press the Create secure data record button. This will create a record that is not associated with any website (to create a record that is associated with a website, use the Transfer from web page form button instead - see below). To edit an existing record, press the Edit secure data record button or double-click on the record in the tree. To delete a record, press the Delete secure data record button or the Delete button on the keyboard. You can quickly rename a record by clicking on its name in the tree then clicking on it again to edit it. Record names must be unique.

You can organize your records into groups. To create a new group, press the Create password group button and to delete a group, press the Delete password group button or the Delete button on the keyboard. Groups can be renamed in the same way as records but the names don't have to be unique. You can also nest groups within groups. To move a record or group to another group in the tree, simply drag it with the mouse from its current location and drop it into the new group or onto a file that is already in that group.

If you create a new record or group and a group is currently selected in the tree, the record or group will be added to the selected group. If a record is currently selected in the tree, the record or group will be added to the same group as the selected record. If nothing is selected in the tree, the new record or group will be added to the top level of the tree.

Press the Copy from web page form button on the toolbar to copy the details from your browser's current web page to a record. If a record already exists for that website, the data is added to the record, otherwise a new record is created. You can read everything about associating records with websites here.

If you click on the Browse to website button, the main web page associated with the selected record will be shown in your browser. You can choose any page you like as the main page when editing the record. It could be the page you visit first when logging into the website, or perhaps the home page. Hold the mouse pointer over the button to see the web address.

The Items list contains the individual secure data items in your record, such as user names or passwords. It is better to leave a check mark in the "Hide Values" box for security. Not only does this prevent anyone else seeing the values on the screen, but the values will remain encrypted in your computer's memory whilst they are not needed for display purposes. Items that correspond to web page elements are colored blue. Items created by you manually are colored gray.

You can manually drag any item from the Record Items list and drop it onto a field on a web page or other document that supports drag & drop, or you can right-click on the item to copy it to the clipboard

The Notes field is provided for general information that isn't necessarily secret, but that you find useful. For example, a record for your online bank could show the phone number and address of the bank, similar to the example provided at the top of this page. You can copy this data to the Windows clipboard and paste it somewhere else. Notes are especially useful for records that are associated with a website because the record is automatically selected whenever you use your browser to visit any page in that website - you just need to double-click with the left mouse button on the system tray icon to show the main window and see the notes you've made.

You can lock your data at any time by pressing the Lock secure data button on the toolbar. By default, PasswordPod will lock the data automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity. You can change this behaviour using the Preferences window. Once you lock your data, you'll need to provide your master password to unlock it again. You don't need to worry about saving your recent changes before locking because your data is saved automatically to file every time you make changes. The locking process basically clears your data from the fields and wipes the unencrypted data from the computer's memory for security.

You can check if a newer version of PasswordPod is available by choosing "Check for Updates..." from the Help menu. This displays a web page that will compare the version you are using with the latest version and provides a link for downloading the new version.

To exit PasswordPod, choose "Exit" from the system tray icon's popup menu or from the File menu on the main window.