In the 80s or 90s there was a movie called Sneakers where someone invented the ultimate password cracking machine and the secret code to make it work was “too many secrets”. \u00a0There are however people who try to crack passwords and therefore we should make them longer and harder, but if we do that how can we possibly remember them?<\/p>\n
This is the role of a program called a password manager. \u00a0Password managers mean that you only need to remember one really hard password that unlocks the rest that are stored in the password manager. \u00a0We’ll comment on three different password managers here:<\/p>\n
1. Dashlane (http:\/\/www.dashlane.com\/<\/a>) – editor’s choice!<\/p>\n Available for free, but with extra features in a paid version. \u00a0Comes in the form of a program that runs on your computer and a browser add-on that enables automatic form filling. \u00a0Because it is an application it can be used easily for passwords that are for things other than web pages. \u00a0Also has some extra features for dealing with online purchases. \u00a0If you aren’t comfortable storing all your passwords on the internet you can run it completely standalone without syncing to the internet, if you do that though you don’t get syncing to other devices but you can manually export and import your passwords in a file to transfer them between devices. \u00a0Has some nice features like the ability to rate your passwords for strength and to warn you which ones need to be changed because they are weak. \u00a0It also compares your passwords to passwords on leaked password lists available on the internet, if your password is on one of those lists then it tells you that your password is compromised so you can change it.<\/p>\n 2. Last pass (https:\/\/lastpass.com\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n Available for free, but with extra features in a paid version. \u00a0Comes in the form of a browser add-on. \u00a0All your passwords are stored online with a local cache (for if the internet is unavailable). \u00a0It is troublesome to use because whenever you need to edit any password it has to be done through a webpage. \u00a0If you are uncomfortable storing your passwords on the internet then this one is not for you. \u00a0Does some password checking for you like dashlane but isn’t as comprehensive.<\/p>\n