Imagine going from your dozens of current passwords to just one. You won’t need to spend any money to get there. You’ll just need to invest a little bit of time setting up some software. It’ll be time very well spent.
Right now, how many passwords do you need to remember? How many of them are repeated (or changed with minor differences) across different sites? How often do you need to use “forgot password” when trying to log in somewhere? And how many of your passwords are strong? Take this random example: U*b!?m+)bzQOa. It’s highly unlikely that most people would remember that sort of password. But the good news? You don’t have to.
Enter a password management tool. I use the free edition of LastPass. Lastpass is a password manager that will store all your passwords inside an encrypted container. You only need one master password to set and remember. Just don’t forget your one master password, because even LastPass itself doesn’t know the master or any of the other passwords in your “vault”.
LastPass syncs across all devices, and even works off-line. It’s highly secure and is trusted by millions of users. The free version is so feature rich that most people don’t need the extra features of Premium. The basic mechanics work like this: LastPass offers to store your username and password on any given site. If you allow access then the next time you log on to the same site, LastPass will automatically fill these fields for you and log you in. Most importantly, there is an offer to create strong passwords (strongly recommended).
In case you’re not convinced yet, consider this: I personally have 113 unique, long, complex passwords (I counted just now). I have no idea what any of those passwords are set to. If I wanted to, I could look them up anytime if needed, even offline. But there is no need. And since using LastPass I’ve logged in everywhere I needed without resetting one password, looking frantically for hidden cheatsheets, or stressing about passwords in any other way. What a relief.
What are your thoughts? Do you have any experiences with another password manager? I’d love to hear all about it in the comments section below. And for any help with PC troubles, android questions, or your web design needs, contact me now. Thanks for reading!
