Norton Identity Safe

Norton Identify Safe (NIS), Symantec's free cloud service that stores login details, passwords, credit cards and other personal data, is now open in public beta. Unlike the built-in password managers in Chrome and Firefox, it lets you access your saved details on any PC and syncs your information across multiple browsers, as well as on mobiles and tablets.

You don't need an existing Norton account because you create one the first time you use it, but you do have to set a complicated master password with at least eight characters containing one capital letter, a number and a symbol. If you fail to remember this, a password hint is only a click away. Once logged in, it's a doddle to save details as you browse, and Norton helpfully prompts you to save each piece of new information that you enter.

The NIS toolbar is added to all your browsers, so your details are synced between them. You can also click the relevant icon in your saved-logins list on the toolbar to open a site in a new tab. It's a simple, effective timesaver.

This automatic synchronization works in the same way across the NIS Android and iOS apps, offering login and form details, private mobile browsing, and the ability to change or remove your details on both your phone and PC. However, you can only get the apps from Norton's website, and we had to reinstall the Android version three times before it would accept our master password.

Other Norton features installed by default include Safe Search and Safe Web Protection, which rate a site's safety, showing this information in search results and on the site itself.

NIS takes the hassle out of managing any details you put online, and we prefer it to other password managers, including LastPass, because of its simplicity. It's still in beta so hopefully some of the small bugs, especially in the apps, will be fixed, before its full release.