Is it worth using a password manager?
There is one truth that cannot be disproved: we are spending more and more time online. As a consequence, we also have a greater number of accounts registered on different sites and it is not easy to memorize all those keys. It is there that password managers have come to fix that problem. Now, do they really deserve to be used? In the following article, we discuss everything you need to know to make a decision.
During the first years of the digital age, it was enough to remember a single password. Today, there are so many sites that ask us to have a user and their password that it is difficult to remember all of them. Even more so if we take into account the basic tips for having a secure online password, such as the use of capital letters, numbers, and punctuation marks, in addition to the mother rule: do not repeat the same password. So how can we have all that information at hand without straining our memory? The answer can be found in the new password managers. After all, the internet always has a solution to the problems it generates.
Password managers take care of creating passwords randomly and of course, they remember them in their database, doing the hard work for us. So then, all we have to do is remember the most important password: the one that will give us access to that information. For that key, it is important to apply everything there is to consider online security. Now it is worth asking yourself: is it worth using a password manager? Spoiler alert: yes.
Firstly, in addition to generating strong passwords for the various accounts we use online, these programs integrate with the browsers we use to automatically fill in our username and password, saving us a great deal of time. Additionally, for websites that also require filling out a form, password managers can also auto-complete them with the information collected. In that same direction, they also serve to manage other types of personal information, even if it is not linked to the online world.
Such is the case of Dashlane, a service that saves passwords in encrypted form, and we can access them with our mother key. In that sense, so far it is the most convenient solution I have found to work on different computers due to my employment, without the need to keep track of the different keys. Thus, I was able to save a significant amount of time, gaining productivity and quality of work. Another advantage of this program, which is undoubtedly a distinctive feature among a large number of competitors on the market, is the possibility of changing multiple passwords at the same time, with a single click. In the face of computer attacks, this alternative can save us a lot of headaches.
Another feature to take into account when choosing a password manager is your discretion: its interface must be simple to use, as well as keep in mind that the most sensitive information should not be seen by anyone who passes near our screen. This is something that should be recognized since its installation: if with just a few clicks you have managed to solve the whole process and the program guides you alone, you have fallen into good hands, since there is usually no second impression for efficiency. Once that first step is completed, a good password manager will import all the keys stored on the machine to keep them in one place online to be used at any time in a secure way.
It is also important, as we have previously pointed out, to have a space to store personal information, data, and statistics that are not necessarily linked to the online world but that we need to have on hand for work or personal reasons. A good password manager will also allow you to have a notebook to keep all those writings without wasting time or worrying.
As you may have seen, password managers are more than useful for the hyperconnected times we live in, especially for those people who also work mostly in front of a computer. Relying on this tool will take a heavy load off us after all.