SGV website entry
http://www.greyhoundvets.co.uk/
Your Council has been having discussion regarding the
use of passwords and usernames for the website. Some SGV members have been
having the not uncommon problem of mislaying the username and password and as a
result are not using the site. Obviously with the amount of work which goes
into maintaining the site, we are keen to make life as easy for SGV members as possible.
One suggestion which was put forward was whether members
could use a self-chosen and well-remembered one rather than use those issued by
SGV Office.
We could obviously get it done professionally but
this would cost SGV cash and with a relatively small membership this would be
relatively expensive.
There
are a number of ways members can be helped at no expense to your Society:
1.
Status quo.
Settle for
what we have in place at present and keep the username and password in a
separate Word/Excel file or even post-it (latter certainly not recommended).
In the event of forgetting them, you can always obtain them from the SGV office
at sgv_office@greyhoundvets.co.uk
.
2. Use
your own username and password.
It is now
possible to add your own specific usernames and passwords to our server protection
to allow access without using the one issued by SGV.
Members can
e-mail me their request for their own selected username and password and I can
set it up using our existing site security. Some people are concerned that this
would allow me to see those as members may use also them for other sites.
This is a fair point but most sites which are of a financial nature have other
layers of security questions and in addition we are encouraged by internet
security experts not to use the same entry data for every site.
3. Save the password if using Internet Explorer
(IE) as browser.
Alternatively to allow the browser to remember all
your passwords go to:
(Firefox is generally considered a much better and more secure browser
than IE. You
can download it free of charge at http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/)
Alternatively to allow the browser to remember all
your passwords go to:
·
Tools/options/security/passwords
then
·
Tick box ”remember
passwords for sites”
·
“OK”
5.
Password storage programme
Comodo is one of a number of free
programmes which you can download onto your pc. I use this for everything and
it's extremely good. Details at:
http://www.comodo.com/products/i-vault/
This programme allows
you to enter passwords and usernames as well as the corresponding URL into a simple
database. When you select that URL, if have ticked this option, you are automatically
taken to that site. The username and password are automatically entered when
you use our site, although sometimes with other sites with more sophisticated
security you need to enter them manually, but the programme reminds you what
they are.
The entire database of
your passwords is protected by an encrypted password of your own choosing which
will appeal to those of us concerned about internet security.
The other advantages of
this programme are that you can enter the password and username for both the
members’ and committee areas of the SGV website, if appropriate, and is also a
useful alternative to favourites for storing your favourite sites.
Clearly not all the membership has to use the same method
for handling of the passwords and usernames.
Anyone who wants further assistance on any of the above
- as usual just email me at webmaster@greyhoundvets.co.uk.
Mike
Harvey
November
2008