I switched to Chrome, Again (times 4), and LastPass vs Roboform

I’m a person who’s default browser changes almost as often as my clothing. But there is always one dominant browser that I use more than any other. For a long time, it’s been Firefox. Internet Explorer, generally big and bulky, too hard to customize and too stiff, lost me a long time ago. I have Safari installed too, but it’s just too far-out for me. I only use it to test websites I’m building.

But then there’s Chrome.

The first time I switched to Chrome was when Chrome was brand new. It was exciting, Google’s foray into web browsers, and loving Gmail and Google Calendar, and Google search, I had to try Chrome. It was simple and clean. Too simple and clean. That lasted a day or so.

The second and third switches, I quickly found out that I could not use one of my indispensible programs in Chrome, Roboform. I rely on Roboform, used it for years now, and can’t live without it. Or at least I can’t work effectively without it. Chrome had an extension which was, OK, but it really didn’t work like the Roboform toolbar in Firefox and Internet Explorer. So without a good way to acccess my passwords, I was back to Firefox. Thanks to add-ons like Web Developer Toolbar, I used Firefox 99% of the time I opened a browser.

Lately though, Firefox has been slow, and every new version reminds me of personas. Please don’t remind me of personas. They are pretty much all ugly and messy. Who needs that? Every time I look at them I can’t believe they are still around. And then, today, I went into Roboform looking for a couple passcards I saved just last week, and they are gone. I don’t know why, I do sync with the Online Roboform, and maybe somehting went wrong, but I was anoyed to lose some passwords. Out to Google I go, looking for answers, and discovered there is a new password manager called LastPass. I downloaded it and also found it works with Chrome, so back to Chrome I go.

Chrome. You click the icon and BANG, it’s up. Websites load faster, seems a lot faster. Makes me wonder what other browsers actually do when you click a link.

Plus, extensions are great and they add all the ‘add-ons’ I like about Firefox. And with LastPass integration, I’m sold.

So my question is why did Roboform take so long to get integrated well with Chrome? I asked and Roboform told me on Twitter that it was a tololbar issue, I guess because Chrome does not have extra toolbars, and since Roboform built their browser versions on the need for toolbars (not blaming them, they had to do it somehow), Chrome came slow. However, I did discover that there is a toolbar that sticks to the bottom of Chrome for Roboform, and so far it’s working well for me. However I’m testing LastPass too and we’ll see who wins. So far, I’m sorry to say (because I’m a LONG TIME Roboform fan, user, buyer, and fanboy) LastPass is winning.

Without having tested for very long, the first thing is that it works well, as it should, putting it even with Roboform. However where it stands a little higher for me, is the iPhone app. LastPass works FAST, I can’t believe how quickly I can login to my sites using it on my iPhone, and the integrated browser allows landscape! Silly to be so excited about that? I wish I didn’t have to be, but too many apps either don’t do landscape, or do it very badly. (Roboform used to fall under the latter, I just tried and found it was working fine. It used to stick and get messed up. Now that I know it works too, I give the LastPass app a 9 and Roboform an 8. Why? LastPass requires less clicks to get there.)

Love to hear your opinions on Firefox vs Chrome, as well as Roboform vs LastPass, if you have any of them!