Last Pass

https://lastpass.com/media/logo_lastpass.png
My son, ever the efficiency freak, has been searching for a password product that will aggregate his passwords in one secure password program so that all he has to do is remember a single sign-on to have access to his many and sundry online programs, locations, and apps.

I sympathize.

While I've taken another route - used an algorithm suggested by a friend for coming up with a unique password for each online location that uses the same basis for each password but adds a portion of the password unique to that location or entity, I mistrust my own system enough that I've still resorted to keeping a spreadsheet of all my passwords - and we all know how secure that is.

So, after having thought he'd found it many times, he swears that this time he's gotten his hands on the Holy Grail of password single signon apps, something called LastPass.

I'm not going to give it a thumbs-up just yet, as I'm only just now starting to use it, but I will say that it sounds promising, and all the ratings for it have been 5 out of 5, with not a single complaint. So far so good.

It's a free, ocally-based, downloadable application that will store all of your username/password information, plus things like credit cards, form data, basically any confidential text data that you want to store securely on your computer and have automatically populated when you access a site or open and start to fill out a form.

Needless to say, none of this can happen unless you are logged in to your master account, so all of this data is secure, including being secure from key logging. Your data can be stored on a flash drive and carried with you, again, protected by your master password, and used wherever you are.

In addition, LastPass can generate super-secure passwords for new logons, so you'll never have to worry about a) choosing a secure password, and b) remembering it, again. You also have access to something called your LastPass Vault, where all your password  and username combinations are stored, so if for some reason you really need it, you could go and find one.

Now, some of these features are offered with the Premium version, but the premium version is a mere $12 a year, so it's not like it's going to break the bank. Nevertheless, it is true that some of the more desirable features, such as that USB download option, are only available with the Premium version, so you're probably going to want to go straight to that version for convenience's sake.

I downloaded it, and ran the install, for which I had to shut down my browswers. I was prompted to set up my master password, which I did. Then, upon re- opening my browsers... er, nothing happened. I didn't quite know what to do. I went to the site and watched the tutorial, which told me there would be a LastPass icon on my browser, but I couldn't find it. I ran the install again, and this time I did find the icon, and have been asked since when I go to a site with a password if I want to store the site's username and password with LastPass. For now, that seems to be about it!

I didn't opt for the Premium version, but I'm about to go back and do that, not so much for the jump drive option, which, granted, will come in handy, as for the mobile version. I find I have a lot more trouble remembering passwords on my iPhone than my desktop, and I think this will come in a great deal more handy when I'm out and about. Not to mention the greater likelihood of losing my phone, and the security of knowing that any password protected locations on my phone will be safe from prying eyes!

After I've used it a while, I'll let you know how it goes, but if you've been in the market for a single sign-on password system, this seems to be the product of choice right now. And I'd love to hear  your experiences and opinions!

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