Passwords. Most of us have them. Most of us use them on a nearly daily basis. Some of us have a lot of passwords. So much to remember. Should you write them down? If they’re hidden securely, then maybe. Should you use the same password for lots of different accounts? Definitely not. If one account is compromised, you risk all your accounts, and that would be bad.
Enter the password manager. An application that securely stores all your passwords and, depending how you set it up, will also helpfully fill in login form details on sites you visit. This takes away the ‘pain’ of having to remember those details, every time you want to log into your email, Facebook or favourite online shopping account. Better still, password managers often will generate passwords for you, so you don’t have to sit there, scratching you head, whilst you ponder on an alternative to “ILUVMycAT” when setting up your Pinterest password for the first time. Sound awesome? Yes, it certainly is.
Password Manager Spotlight: LastPass
There are a number of main players in the password manager game. The likes of Dashlane, 1Password and Keeper are all names you’ll find at, or near the top of the list for current password managers. For this post though the focus will be on LastPass as it’s been tried and tested by us for a number of years now, and has proven rock solid all along that time.
The free version of LastPass offers a host of features that should more than suffice for most home users. The premium version ($24 a year) ups the feature set to include things like encrypted online storage, fingerprint identification, and priority customer support.
LastPass is available across all major platforms (Windows, Mac, Android, iOS) and can be used on mobile devices as well as desktops/laptops.
LastPass lives inside your browser as an extension. It’s available for just about every major browser, including Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Opera. For initial setup you just need to navigate to the LastPass downloads page and select the extension for your chosen browser. Once it has downloaded, you’ll see a new a new red icon available, and when you click on that, simply select “Create an account now”. From there, enter you email address and what’s called the ‘master password’ – make sure this is a strong password, as it will gain you access to all the passwords you’ll be storing within your manager.
From there on, every time you want to store a password using LastPass, you just need take one extra step on the particular login page of a website you’re accessing. Once you’ve typed in your username and password but before you click the sign in button, you’ll see a little icon inside the password field box, which when clicked will give you the option to save the details in your LastPass vault. Gradually, your vault will fill up with all your passwords and login information. Now, when you revisit those sites, LastPass can automatically enter your username and password for you.
From within the LastPass vault itself, you can organise your sites neatly into folders and categories, as well as creating new site credentials on the fly. You can even create secure notes for such things as your Wi-fi passwords, membership IDs, or any other info you want to keep safe.
Do You Need One?
So, to answer the other part of the question posed by this post’s title – do you need a password manager? If you’re someone who deals with a lot of passwords and you’re always struggling to remember them, or struggling to come up with new, secure ones, then yes, a password manager is for you.
If you’re someone who is extremely worried about online security and the thought of having your passwords stored in the cloud by a third party (LastPass in this case) keeps you awake at night in a cold sweat, then we still think a password manager is of use. Sure, nothing is 100% safe, but don’t forget that LastPass is a security focused app, and as such is dedicated to security in a way many services are not.
Also don’t forget the adage, “the only secure password is one you can’t remember”. If you can remember it, it’s probably more easily hacked and more easily usable on your other accounts. By using a password manager (especially if you let it generate the passwords for you) there is an added level of security you might not otherwise have. By having all our passwords stored in one secure place, they are also easy to edit and change, if you are ever the victim of a hack – something that’s becoming more and more common, sadly.
