KeePass
 

Some other forums I'm a member of (specifically, their password databases) have been hacked recently and I'd suggest looking into using KeePass if you are the type of person to use the same or similar passwords for multiple accounts.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/keepass/

I've been using it for roughly a year and have the max strength password for every site that I use and I keep a backed up encrypted password file on a thumb drive that I can take with me places. It might be a bit annoying to use with government computers I suppose, but definitely worth the extra time for your 401K/bank accounts/etc.

I've used KeePass for a couple of years now. I like how you can customize the settings for the auto generated passwords, among many other positive features.

How does it work? I've never understood the concept I guess.

When I downloaded it I just messed around until I got the hang of it. You can have it create passwords for you of just about any length and have it (or not) include special characters, numbers, etc. I'm too stupid to understand it at a technical level, but there is an online Help Center to help sort things.