I can't endorse any of these as I haven't used them. I don't have that many passwords: well, at least nothing like the author's 150.
Still, someone reading this may need a program like this very urgently.There are more clips available about Dashlane available.
And below is a clip on LastPass.I get the impression they are free.
THERE’S a war raging
between hackers and companies, and you’re caught in the crossfire. Every time a
company gets hacked, you have to change your password. And don’t you dare reuse
it somewhere else.
Dreaming up a different password
for every site and service is the only way to keep your stuff safe online, but
it’s also a gigantic nuisance. There’s one thing you can — and should — do to
help: get a password manager program.I have more than 150 logins and counting. I’d have to be Rain Man to memorise that many passwords. So I went on a hunt for the best services for storing all my passwords, and whittled down the list to four that get the job done and offer enough security for most of us: 1Password, Dashlane, LastPass and PasswordBox.
For most people, I recommend Dashlane. It’s simple, so you’ll actually use it. It may even save you clicks.
But wait — isn’t storing all your passwords in one place a terrible idea?
It’s better than reusing easily remembered passwords everywhere. Password managers hide your information behind a master password that only you know.
Nothing is 100 per cent guaranteed, but all four of these managers take the additional security step of never sending your master password over the internet. They’re like a safe-deposit box a professional keeps without knowing what’s inside, or even holding a key to open it.
Dashlane is like the memory you wish you had. It keeps track of not only passwords but also credit card numbers and user IDs, filling them in when you need them across many different devices.
It also keeps a scorecard on the quality of your passwords, and nudges you to improve them. Dashlane is free to use on any single device; a $US30 ($31.90) annual subscription lets the Dashlane apps automatically sync your data across devices. You can try the premium service free for 30 days.
Setting up Dashlane is a pleasure. Its app slurps up the passwords that have been saved unencrypted in your web browser and learns new ones as you type them. All of this gets protected by the master password, encrypted in a database on your computer or mobile device. Every time you start your computer or open the Dashlane app, you must log into the app with that master password.
Dashlane uses an add-on to web browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer and Safari. When you’re logging into a site Dashlane knows, it puts a small icon (a dashing impala) in the login box to let you know it can enter your username and password — even your credit card number. If you tell it to, Dashlane will automatically press the “login” button.
Along the way, Dashlane also tries to improve your security. When you’re changing a password or starting a new account, it suggests a strong one that would confound even a supercomputer.
Where password managers really become helpful is keeping your passwords up-to-date across computers, phones and tablets.
Dashlane works largely the same way on Android phones and tablets, automatically entering your passwords in apps, though not yet on the default Chrome browser. On iPhones and iPads, the Dashlane app gives you access to all of your logins and passwords, but can’t fill them in for you because of Apple’s programming rules.
Still, why should you place your trust in Dashlane, a two-year-old start-up with two million customers? Because selling security is the only way Dashlane makes money. And if you decide it is not worth $US30 a year, Dashlane lets you export your password database in forms that can be read by you or another password manager.
You could even use the old-fashioned technique and print out the database on paper.
As crazy as that sounds, it’s still safer than using the same password over and over again.
by Geoffrey Fowler
With thanks to The Australian
