[AlanHo]

I am no longer able to remember passwords reliably and never use the same one for all websites - so I have them listed on an encrypted Word file on a password protected memory stick with a duplicate in a secret place in my garage.. If I ever forget the password for the memory stick, lose it, or forget where I hid the duplicate, I would be somewhat inconvenienced. In any event, it is a clunky way of going about it.

Thoughts turn to password managers - but I know little about them.

How safe are they, how easy are they to use, how do they work?

For example - if I wanted to open my Harrods account - would I open the Harrods web site, then "Account" then click on "sign in"

I would then be presented with a window to enter my details - but with a password manager installed - what comes next next.

At present I have to insert my memory stick, enter its password, open the file in Word and then open the password file which is itself protected by a Word password, find  Harrods, copy its passsword then return to the Harrods website and paste it into the log-in box.

By the way - the use of the word Harrods was was a wind-up - Tesco or i30 Owners Club would be more appropriate.

If any of you guys uses a password manager - which one? and a few words of your experience with it.  I know some are free and others subscription. Free security bothers me - how on earth do they stay in business without bombarding you with adverts

None of the password manager reviews, or even the maker websites, go into much detail. They all boast of their features but none show you exactly how you use them. Most so-called independent reviews recommend Dashlane or Roboform - do any of them really offer a free, tasty and satisfying lunch that doesn't eventually poison you?

[CraigB]

I cant comment on the usability Alan as I don't use them though the popular ones that I've seen recommended many times is Lastpass and Dashlane Never forget another password | Dashlane

They have free and paid versions, I don't believe there is advertising or much of the free is limited to 50 passwords for Dashlane.

There is nothing wrong with free products, if developed well they can sometimes equal or better some of the paid options, they mostly make their money in the buisness/professional sectors and by limiting features in the free versions, some extra $ will come by from those home users that need the extra features of their paid products as well.

They have a video tutorial section on youtube Dashlane - YouTube

[asathorny]

I use 1password Alan...   I cannot say it's the best as I have no other ones to compare it with.

Anyhow to asnwer your question, if you go into Harrods to set up your account (to purchase your gentlemans relish) when you are asked to your password (if you have set it up correctly) it will pop up and give you two choices 1. save the password that you have chosen 2. it will create a password for you.   Having done this if you wish the pasword to be autimatically entered you have to go into that passowrds settings to facilitate that feature.  As the title suggests you only have to recall one password.  In the event that you forget that password you then need to go into password recovery, which you will have sent up earlier and save somewhere safe, USB pen et al

[Dazzler]

Morning Alan. I use Norton Identity Safe (free version) which from my experience works better than the Kaspersky version that comes with my cheap paid antivirus.

I set it up when I was using Norton as my paid Antivirus solution. As an aside, I really liked Norton 360 as an internet security package but swapped to Kaspersky a number of years ago because for the multiple devices we have it worked out cheaper.

Both of their password managers have the odd hiccup, but have had a more trouble free run with the Norton version.

I found Kaspersky sometimes tried to put passwords in the wrong places and other times wouldn't populate the correct fields at all.

The biggest problem I've had with Norton seems to be related to browser plug ins. It works more seamlessly with some browsers and versions of windows than with others.

It seems to work really well with WIn 10 and Chrome at the moment. It prompts you to insert the master password once for each browsing session then you click on the user name and password boxes and it auto inserts the info.

If it has a hiccup with a particular operating system and I have a temporary blank I can still log into it and look up the user name /password for that site.

Fortunately, most of the time I can remember my multiple passwords (use it as a bit of a memory game/exercise)

[Blazorax]

Alan

Use open source, it is free and it pretty good.  It has the ability to create folders to keep groups of them together, randomly generate pw if you need.  When you need to enter username or pw, just right mouse click and copy/paste

KeePass Password Safe

Whole IT dept using this

[mickd]

Years ago when our IT was outsourced, they discovered that 95% of the male users password was:  initials in capital -coldbeer - !. Eg, MDcoldbeer!.
They were more disturbed that everyone knew about it .
You could request / purchase and approve really easy.
They also discovered that our high level management,  would approve any requests if they didn't if understand what was being ordered or worded in a certain way. 
Before laptops, I requested remote access from home computer to work system, his PA explained it and it was approved.  He decided that if someone 4 pay levels below had it he should too, IT said "no value in allowing him access"   

[Blazorax]

Hi Alan

I think you would still have issue remembering password even with password manager.  There are ways to make password unique per sites/application yet still the same.  Hope this method below would help you.

1 - Nominate a password that you will always remember. 
!H@teP@55w0rd     lets say that is your password that you always remember,  it is meeting all complexity requirements with A-Z, a-z, 1-0, and nonAlpha numeric.

Now come the method.

Say if i go to website called "http://www.i30ownersclub.com";;;
My password for this website would be.  !H@teP@55w0rd.i30ownersclub


and lets say you go do some internet banking with American Express "http://www.americanexpress.com/australia/";;,   then your banking password would be !H@teP@55w0rd.americanexpress

same deal with say facebook pw can be !H@teP@55w0rd.facebook

Using this method, you only really need to remember 1 complex password and the website/application you are using will supply you with the rest of the pw


Note:  I recommend you have a general pw for everything except banking or recovery email account.  Those should be different.  Hence, at the max you only need to remember 3 password and they are all complex enough.

That is how i never really need to use password manager application

[Shambles]

Nominate a password that you will always remember.
!H@teP@55w0rd

In theory that's a perfect solution and indeed one which I employ virtually everywhere.

Sadly, a growing number of sites are implementing password rules which disallow such wild content. Like one of my banks has a max 14 char password; another bank won't allow repeated characters (like "55" above). At least 4 of my regular haunts would baulk at the password not starting with a capital letter and moan further at the count of symbols.

Anyway, if anybody would like to copy my password and try it, it's "Wh0thef@akAm1?"

[John B]

I have Avast free antivirus on my Mac so I use Avast passwords, very easy to use. When I click on a site that requires a password I put one in and then Avast  ask if I want to add it to the manager and then every time you go on that site you just have to put the one password in that you designated to the password manager. I have heaps of password and its great only having to remember the one.

[AlanHo]

Thanks everyone - you have provided me with lots to mull over before I decide what to do.

I will spend time trying a few options when I get back from a two week holiday in Portugal on 7th October. I will have my laptop with me and may do some research in the evening while Libby and our 2 friends watch TV.  I cannot hear a TV, even with my hearing aids, unless set at a volume that would discomfort others. At home I have a bluetooth device wired into the TV that connects with my hearing aids. It plugs into the audio socket on the TV . I once took it with me on holiday but the speakers on the TV there were muted when anything was plugged into the audio socket. This has put me off bothering.

[i30premy]

Another vote here for Keepass, been using it for years.
Can create folders for various uses, have many banking PW that I need, then get to the ATO ones etc.
Also PW's for eBay, this forum, Gumtree & numerous other forums, online retail sites.
Have created a PW file & it's stored on a cloud drive so can keep a master copy that I can access from any device with net access.

Keepass is freeware, no ads, & has Apple/Android apps for mobile devices.
Also add in's for web browsers with auto fill if you need this.
You can also save PW's driectly in most web  browsers

[diesel1984]

Another vote for keepass.

As i work in IT field i used alot of pass store apps. This is the best one and easiest to use and ofcourse in combination with cloud access database is in safe place.