Password manager

tempus_fugit

knightstyle wrote: »

Strange that some people have 1password free, I tried to get it and they want $2.99 a month, anyone got a link to the free version?

It used to be free if you only used one device, synced manually between devices or used Dropbox to sync between devices. I think they have done away with that now but there may be some people on legacy arrangements that still use it for free. I pay the £3 a month and I couldn't do without it.

tempus_fugit

Chino wrote: »

Whilst the responses posted might have been useful to some, with the exception of the first response and post # 16 they did not answer the OP's questions.

The questions the OP asked were:



With the exception of the aforementioned posts, all the other posters did was to recommend their chosen password manager. None of them attempted to answer the OP's questions. Specifically, the OP did not ask "which password manager do you recommend?"

OK here goes:

1. A password manager allows you to create complex passwords and store them securely, and has the added benefit that you can use them to auto-fill username and password fields in browsers and apps. When you change a password on a site you can have the functionality of the 1Password software creating a new password for you and entering that in the fields for the new password, or you can do it manually in the software and copy and paste it into the browser/app.

2. If you choose to stop using the app later, you will have to somehow download all the stored passwords otherwise you will lose them and you will have effectively forgotten all the passwords you have set for the various sites as these will have been set, as they should be, as complex passwords. I'm not exactly sure what the OP means by "I am left with umpteen obscure passwords that this app has created", but obviously the passwords created and used on each site/app will be stored in that password manager and you will have to somehow get them into a new password manager, or start again and reset all the passwords to whatever new system you want to use. A bit messy really.

3. They don't. You have to look up the password and select the appropriate characters on the screen as these types of input are designed exactly to stop automatic selection by password crackers etc. 1Password has a useful function where it will display the password with the characters numbered sequentially to help you see which ones you need to use on the screen.

I hope this helps answer the OP's queries.

[Deleted User]

Chino wrote: »

Whilst the responses posted might have been useful to some, with the exception of the first response and post # 16 they did not answer the OP's questions.

The questions the OP asked were:

Cliddy wrote: »

If I want to change my MS password I need to log onto MS and go through its unique password change process. This process is multiplied by the number of organisations I deal with.

How does a password manager deal with all that if I choose to use it's random password generator?

mksysb wrote: »

Password managers only store passwords or generate random passwords, they can't change passwords for you. (not entirely true)

Cliddy wrote: »

If I choose at some later date not to continue using the app and either resort to my current method or an alternative app am I left with umpteen obscure passwords that this app has created?

mksysb wrote: »

Make sure you use a password manager that allows export and import of passwords, so if you move to another app you can export them, form the old and import into the new.

Cliddy wrote: »

Additionally, how do these apps cope with only selected characters asked for on a password screen.

Colin_Maybe wrote: »

I personally use Lastpass, I'd seriously be lost without it.

As regards matching to requirements of a particular site you can specify to use any combination of upper case, lower case, numbers or special characters and has other options such as 'easy to say' which avoids numbers & special characters, 'easy to read' which avoids the ambiguous characters such a 0 & O or 'use all characters' which is how it sounds. Obviously minimum characters generated is supported all the way up to 99 character passwords.

I've no doubt all of the password managers have similar BTW.

With the exception of the aforementioned posts, all the other posters did was to recommend their chosen password manager. None of them attempted to answer the OP's questions. Specifically, the OP did not ask "which password manager do you recommend?"

It all looks answered to me...

Edit: they didn't specifically ask which to use no, but they didn't specifically ask for no recommendations at all (not that that would have stopped people rightly suggesting better alternatives)

Swipe

If you go on any privacy or security forums you will see two password managers recommended over and over again and those are Bitwarden or Keepass/KeepassXC. Both open source and free.