You’ve heard a lot about them but never understood its use. We’re talking about password managers, and as its name suggests, it is there to protect a user from all the hassles of remembering passwords or even having to save them somewhere digitally.
With digital lives becoming as precious as our offline one, it’s evident that people are unable to keep a track of all the accounts (they sign up) and in that process, duplicate their passwords, which is never advisable.
So, unless you have a photographic memory (most of us don’t), it’s high time to consider using password managers, and here’s a detailed look at how it works, what it does for the user and which ones are worth trying.
What It Really Means and Does?
A password manager is like a library where you can store passwords of all crucial digital accounts residing on the internet. This is a tool that helps a user create a strong, unique password, as well as manage them in a way that unreliable sources are not able to access it.
Password managers come in two avatars; software plugin to install on your PC/mobile, or you could rely on web extensions, which comes in handy while logging through devices outside of your home network.
With these, you can get rid of typing passwords, making sure no hacker or stranger can eavesdrop to read your password combination on keypad. These also offer tokenised passwords, that means every time you log in to Facebook or Twitter, the password will be random, made of alphanumeric characters.
We understand that many people are apprehensive of using such tools to protect their password, but with increasing number data breaches, leading security experts recommend everyone to install them on their devices.
Which Password Manager Then?
Well, if we’ve convinced you into signing up for a password manager, then you’re in good company. You have plenty of options to choose from. For iOS and macOS users, Apple has a built-in iCloud Keychain password manager, that will work across all the iPhone/iPad and MacBook you own.
For Google users, the Chrome browser has its own password manager but that’ll only work on websites, which acts more like a web extension.
Other popular options are LastPass, 1Password (which also tells you the passwords that have been breached already), Dashlane and there’s KeePass, if you’re using a system running on Linux operating system.
Most of these work for free and the paid versions support additional features, which may or may not be useful for everyone.
If you’re looking for more, then you have StickyPassword and True Key also worth considering.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)