Password Woes? Get LastPass

Do you use the same password for every website?

Do you have crazy-long passwords that seem impossible to remember and get lost amidst all your other "important" documents?

Do you use passwords consisting of only four or five lower-case letters (lacking any capitals, numbers, or symbols)?

Do you use passwords like your spouse's name, your birthday, your favorite actor, where you were born, etc.?

Guys like this dude know how to hack into your online
accounts a lot easier than you might think.

I'll resist using the "s" word on you here (should) and simply urge you to avoid anything listed above . . .  Especially after all the fraudulent emails I've seen from people I know (presumably from Facebook break-ins) and the recent Gawker hack.

In short, password security can be a huge risk.  If you refuse to take my word for it, read this article from CNET News, How secure is your e-mail password?  I'm convinced you'll take password security a lot more seriously after reading it sincerely.

So what's the solution to all these problems?  Well for starters, whatever you do, avoid using the same password for every website, especially if you use Facebook or Gawker.

Next, I suggest what I consider a mindbogglingly simple solution:  get LastPass.

I'd heard about it for a long time, and I kept putting off getting it.  Take my word for it, and just get it.

LastPass:  The solution to all your password problems.

I've been amazed at how simple LastPass really is (which, from its logo, I presume is short for LastPassword).  I remember one super-secure master password, LastPass generates crazy-secure and unique passwords for any website I login to, it encrypts and remembers all my passwords for me, and I can access those passwords from any computer that has internet access.

I'll be upfront and admit I had some weird issues with my imported passwords.  Other than that, I've been blown away with how easy LastPass is and how much more secure I now feel.

To learn more, I strongly suggest this article from DownloadSquad, Three password apps to protect yourself from trouble like the Gawker database hack.

Please let me know what questions you have, and please share your experiences below.  I'd love to hear about both.