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Ilium Software, maker of software for both Windows and the PPC has crafted a new version of their popular program eWallet.  Being a user of eWallet 6.x for a good six months I was interested to see what an upgrade to this handy utility might look like.  Here’s what I found out about this neat application.

For a long time I have kept all of my personal information (passwords, account numbers and other information) all together in one place using the Contact List section of Microsoft Outlook.  I did this for years and it was really pretty workable.  By using Outlook I could keep everything in one place and even synchronize it with my PPC and/or phone and have it handy there too.

One thing that worried me a bit, however, was that using Outlook was not particularly secure for this kind of information.  Even though I’m careful about leaving my devices around the possibility existed that just once this would happen and my critical information would be available to whoever had the device.  Just locking the device wasn’t quite enough – even that could be compromised if the device was picked up before it had a chance to lock itself down.  I needed something tighter to keep the critical information stored away.  Thus began my search for a “wallet” application.

After looking at a few offerings I settled on “eWallet” by ILium software. (http://www.iliumsoft.com)  This application seemed to have everything I needed.  Storage of all my critical information and the ability to synchronize it with my pocket devices.  As I said above, I’ve been using the application for about six months now and have been very pleased with it.  Here’s a quick snap of the version I’m presently using.

The user-interface for the 6.x version is fairly simple to use and has been handy.  It does look a little bit “old” but so far has been very functional.

Installation

Installation of version 7 of this application is simple enough as most applications are these days.  However be aware that if you don’t have Microsoft .Net 3.5 Framework installed that the program will prompt you about this and then install it.  You will need to be connected to the internet during the install if this is the case.

One thing I noticed is that the install program paused for quite awhile (a minute or two) to do what it said was “optimize” the program for the machine.  This is a small application – what kind of “optimization” is necessary and takes upwards of a minute?  Also … this was before even opening my wallet file.

The Program

The upgraded version has obviously been given a facelift.  The GUI has been upgraded to conform with the Office2007 “ribbon” style look.  Up to this point I have not particularly been a fan of the “ribbon” approach – however in this case the front-end of the program just has a crisp and organized look to it.  Very easy to find what you want to do.

Naturally, I was expecting to be able to use my existing wallet so by choosing the “browse” button I was able to navigate right to it.  As I expected the program recognized it and offered to upgrade it to the new file format.  It also asked for the password to my existing wallet before performing the upgrade – as one would expect of a good security application.

Once the upgrade was complete, the program worked pretty much as I expected.  All of my “cards” were still in the same locations they were before.  The program functionality is pretty much the same as it was before except the user-interface seems a bit “tighter” and better integrated.  An exhaustive User-Guide style write-up is beyond the scope of this review but my impressions of the program after using it for a couple of days are in the following section.

General Impressions

* The GUI for the Windows version of eWallet is much improved.  The use of the Ribbon interface works well here.  The previous version of the GUI was OK but this just puts some real polish on the application.

* The first startup of the Windows version of the program is a little on the slow side.  This might be the fact that it is a .Net 3.5 application and the framework needs to be loaded first.  Subsequent opens of the program are much quicker.  I wouldn’t consider this a serious issue at all.  Managed code just takes more stuff to run.

* The PPC version of the program doesn’t appear to have changed much – it looks the same in all aspects as far as I can tell.  The “Lock” soft-button doesn’t seem to work.  Bug.

Summary

I think that once they hammer a bug or two out of this the program will be a good upgrade.  From strictly a functional standpoint I would not say the upgrade is particularly necessary – I haven’t found anything new about it that makes me want to part company with a lot of $ to upgrade from the one I have.  However, having said that – if they let me upgrade for $10 or something I would probably do that to get the nicer Windows client.  I would still highly recommend this program if you want a central point to keep your critical information.  It just works.

-CB