Many many Passwords

[rkser]

How to remember the many passwords of different accounts I have ?

Do you use the password software where it puts in the password ? How do you find the password software ?

 

[target2019]

Our family uses 1Password.

I was just thinking of this yesterday, and how much simpler it is storing so many passwords - 277 and will grow for awhile longer.

 

[DrRoy]

We keep a little booklet with our passwords in it.

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

Spreadsheet on a thumbdrive and a print out that I refer to and pen and ink changes/new passwords between updates. Some app only ones I just keep in my phone.

 

[donheff]

I use Password Safe, a simple open-source password manager. I keep copies of the app on my PC, phone, and iPad. The encrypted safe file of passwords resides in the cloud and is accessed by the local clients. In addition to username, password, and URL it has a notes section where I can add relevant information about the account.

 

[frayne]

For non financial transaction websites I let my Apple software generate and keep those passwords. For financial sites I keep a little book for those usernames and passwords.

 

[Car-Guy]

Excel works for me. Just copy and paste.

 

[Midpack]

Excel works for me. Just copy and paste.

That’s what I did, and kept them on a flash drive.

When that got to be too much, I let Apple Keychain takeover. My passwords are much stronger now (16 characters), though no password is safe. If we ever get to true touch*** or retina scan we might be safer?

*** Apple touch just enters the password…

 

[OddGuy]

Google Password Manager

 

[Aerides]

We keep a little booklet with our passwords in it.

this, plus I let google remember the non-critical ones, and the auto generated ones it makes for me.

 

[Tracer]

I've used RoboForm for many years. You only need to memorize the Master Password which they remind you to enter at least once per month so you don't forget it. Everything else is saved and filled out for you when you need to login somewhere. It will generate strong secure passwords for all your sites without you needing to remember them or write them down somewhere. It also fills out forms for you with one click.. name, address, phone numbers, credit card numbers, etc. Enormous time saver when you have to fill out forms online. They have a free version, but I get the premium which has extra features and works and syncs to all devices. RoboForm was one of the first Password Managers but there are many others that have emerged like Last Pass, Dashlane, NordPass, etc.

https://www.roboform.com/lp?frm=offer-everywhere-referral&refid=rfo_2206225

 

[athena53]

I have a Word document with password hints. "DH's middlenameOldHouseNumber" means nothing to anyone who sees it but I know that it's my late husband's middle name plus the house number of the place we sold before moving here.

I don't want to rely on the on-line managers, having been burned twice by computer failures when out of the country or close to it (an old laptop failed when I was at an airport hotel the night before a very early flight to Peru). I had to do some functions from my phone that I hadn't anticipated and didn't have the login info; I'm guessing one of these password managers would want to send a verification code to my phone, which wouldn't work because I'd switched out the SIM card. MAYBE if I switched the SIM card back I'd get the message. Too much trouble.

The last trip, a tablet failed (I posted about it earlier- it got zapped during a demo of a generator at the Tesla Museum) but I'd e-mailed the Word document to myself before leaving. Not optimal to do everything from the phone but I managed.

 

[thod]

I have a favorites menu called 'logins' in the browser with all the login pages.
After adding a link to the menu, I then edit the label and add the user name and hints to the password. The hint might be 'short + a!'

That means stuff to me and my wife, but no one else.

I used to keep them in my head, but once the websites started requiring increased complexity and/or changing them frequently, I just could not do that anymore.

I currently have ~80 links still active, there is another 50 that I have placed in a sub-folder called 'old'.

 

[Time2]

I have 3 pages of passwords, I did make a digital file with all of them, but I keep writing in more passwords as time goes by. I need to update the file.
Many will already know this, I use Firefox, but other browsers have this also, in the upper right corner, 4 bars, in that you will find 'password manager' in Firefox that area has all your sites with username and the password.

 

[Car-Guy]

I have 3 pages of passwords, I did make a digital file with all of them, but I keep writing in more passwords as time goes by. I need to update the file.
Many will already know this, I use Firefox, but other browsers have this also, in the upper right corner, 4 bars, in that you will find 'password manager' in Firefox that area has all your sites with username and the password.

My Firefox browser only has 3 bars. Maybe I don't have the latest version?

 

[Time2]

My Firefox browser only has 3 bars. Maybe I don't have the latest version?

No, you are right, bad eyes. When I looked I thought it would be what they call a hamburger and did think it strange that it was 4. Should have looked closer! No wonder I always think this is tipping a beer and not flowers.

 

[5Miler]

I used to use excel spreadsheets with pen/ink updates until I got up the gumption to update my spreadsheet but it was a constant problem with keeping all my passwords up to date. Another issue was tracking URLs to avoid phishing, security questions and 2 factor identification. I relied upon the Chrome browser synchronization for daily use but it frequently failed me. The final straw was when Chromium was no longer able to synchronize with Google Chrome to keep my passwords updated in Linux.

I switched to using 1password two years ago and after the initial grief of converting/updating all my passwords, life has been so much easier. Every password I have is unique and at least 20 characters, it has its own OTP generator for those sites that allow it instead of relying up text messaging or emails, lets me use hardware security keys and syncs across every platform I use. Since I have been using 1password I can't recall a single incident where my password/logon failed due to incorrect credentials provided by me. This includes Apple apps which I had to use Apple Keychain for before but don't use it any longer. Can't believe I held out from using a password app for so long. I know it was my aversion to subscriptions but I have learned that sometimes they are well worth the price.

I have the family plan so DGF can use it as well with her own private password "vault" as well as a shared "vault" we can both use for shared logins such as our home utility accounts. We can both access the credentials and if one changes them, it shows up on both of our 1password logons so both can still access the account. Still trying to fully convert her but she is slow about it as it does take some amount of effort to fully implement the change.

 

[Qs Laptop]

1Password user here. Greatly simplified my life. I previously had a Word.doc that was 15 pages long. I was previously using the same password (or variations of it) for multiple sites.

Those of you that keep your passwords in lists, in Excel, or otherwise don't use a password manager, how do you easily go from PC to tablet to phone without a giant headache manually entering usernames and passwords?

 

[OldShooter]

At least 90% of the places I go have passwords that are don't cares for me. So I often just use the name of the site as the password. Sometimes when they are fussy I'll append a couple of standard special characters like a pound and an ampersand or something.

Critical sites, like banks, get their own passwords built according to a system I have so they are always unique and never used any other place in my computer. My usernames for banks are also unique and never used any other place.

That really doesn't leave me with very much that I have to remember and pretty good security.

 

[bloom2708]

Implemented Family 1Password a few years back.

It took me about 6-7 hours on a Saturday to transfer passwords, test them, update them to stronger passwords and close some old accounts.

It is great to have it done. My wife doesn't use it as much as she should, but if she needs a password, she knows where it is.

A password manager allows you to use more difficult passwords and maintain them across multiple people.

 

[target2019]

If you can get a csv file out of your old password manager (or wherever you store) it can be easily imported to 1Password. It was a while ago that I did this, but I re-entered very little. YMMV.

Their online support docs are very good. I monitor r/1Password to keep up with latest changes and news.

 

[brett]

I do not use a password manager.

I regularly change the passwords on three of four financial accounts that would allow an intruder to transfer funds out of those respective accounts. We also change our ATM pin numbers on a regular basis and always when we return from an overseas trip. The other accounts...not so much.

Some of our financial accounts are set up so as to send us an email any time the account is accessed.

 

[Tadpole]

A neighbor of mine walked out to the front of his house the other day. While he was there, someone went through his backdoor and took his PC, a tablet, a phone and a notepad with personal information. Since then, I have been trying to put my head around how to protect information without totally disabling my own free access. I have several computers, tablets and phones all connected to my internal router and my backup drives are external and not encrypted (xcopy type backups because of the ease of sharing the info). This seems hard to fix after-the-fact. It made me feel as if I needed to trash everything and start over clean.

 

[PaunchyPirate]

I’ve used 1Password for years. I love that it supports and synchronizes to all my devices automatically. I let it generate very cryptic passwords for everything.

 

[Aerides]

A neighbor of mine walked out to the front of his house the other day. While he was there, someone went through his backdoor and took his PC, a tablet, a phone and a notepad with personal information. Since then, I have been trying to put my head around how to protect information without totally disabling my own free access. I have several computers, tablets and phones all connected to my internal router and my backup drives are external and not encrypted (xcopy type backups because of the ease of sharing the info). This seems hard to fix after-the-fact. It made me feel as if I needed to trash everything and start over clean.

To me the odds of that happening are so incredibly low, vs. the aggravation when I can't get to a site I need to, which would be frequent. And I have 2FA on most financial stuff. Oh, and an alarm system, and don't generally leave the house without setting it.

I don't exactly leave my password book right next to my PC anyway, and someone would have quite a haul getting that out.

I don't keep my actual PC or tablet unlock codes lying around, since I use them daily and don't need write those down.