That's why Kundargi, who is the vice chairwoman of the Cupertino Arts Commission and host of a television cooking show, started password pleez.com with her husband, Kiran. The website allows its users to store their Internet passwords and login names in one place and encrypts the information so other people can't access them.

"We create so many identities on the Internet," Hema says, "and they always caution you to have different passwords and log-in identifications."

The Kundargis say that the website is more than just a convenient storage space for Internet identities and passwords because it can also prevent identity theft. They say it's better to have this information all in one place because users will then be freer to use many different log-in names and passwords.

"A lot of people think of identity theft in terms of credit card numbers," Kiran says. "But stealing passwords is also a real threat. You want to protect all information about you."

The idea for passwordpleez.com came about because Hema would often ask Kiran if he could remember her various passwords. She wanted to do something to fix the problem and decided a website to store passwords would be a good solution.

The Kundargis started the website in January and say the flow of users has been "slow but steady." About 1,500 people use the website now, but the Kundargis would like to see 5,000 users by the end of the year.

Kiran, who owns a software company and worked at Intel for 18 years, handles most of the technology. Hema is responsible for marketing and interpersonal relations.

Right now, people can use the website for free. The Kundargis might charge a fee of about $2 a month to cover the cost of running the website once more people start using it.

They are not expecting the website to be a moneymaker. Rather, they say they created passwordpleez.com to provide a needed service.

"For the audience we are going after, like people who do online shopping, we think it will be useful," Kiran says.

To visit the website, go to www.passwordpleez.com