How to Manage Your Passwords with LastPass

There are just too many online services these days that require passwords, and keeping track of all those security keys can get confusing after awhile. The built-in Keychain Access service in OS X, Safari and a several other applications can remember your password for you, but it's not as fully-featured as one would hope. Enter LastPass, the password manager that works on Macs, Windows, and even iOS devices. Oh, and did we mention that it's free and integrates with your browser, too?

What You'll Need:

>> LastPass.com Account
>> LastPass Mac Plugins

What Does LastPass Provide?

LastPass is a service that provides a set of plugins to help you store passwords from sites that you frequent online. Because all of that information is stored in the cloud, all of your account information is synced and available on whatever device you are using. You just need to sign into your single LastPass account to get access to all of that information. As an added bonus, LastPass will automatically sign you in. No typing your passwords, and no worrying about the possible key loggers.

LastPass encrypts and decrypts your account information locally on your system. This means that would-be hackers will not have access to your secure information in your LastPass Vault.  It's also completely free to use on your desktop computer (Windows or Mac), but if you want to use the iOS version [iTunes link] of the app, you'll have to upgrade to Premium, which only costs $1/month (or $12/year).

Getting Started with LastPass

To get started with LastPass, you'll first need to create an account. This process is fairly simple, and can be completed by going to the Signup page.

After sign up, download and install the browser plugin for you system by going to the Downloads page. We'll show you how to use LastPass with Safari on the Mac, but the process will be the same for almost any web browser you use, including Chrome and Firefox.

Using the LastPass Plugin

After installing the LastPass plugin, there will be a LastPass icon in your web browser's menu bar. Click it.

You will be prompted to enter your LastPass Vault username and password. Enter it, and then click Login.

After you are logged into the LastPass plugin, add a new site to your LastPass Vault by navigating to a site, typing in your username and password, and then logging in as usual. LastPass will display a bar at the top of the page asking whether you would like to save the site. Click the "Save Site" button.

A new tab will open in your browser with your account credentials automatically filled in. You can specify a name, group, and notes. At the bottom of the page, you will be able to set options for Favorite, Never AutoFill, Require Password Reprompt, and AutoLogin. When you have finished, click the Save button.

When you return to the site login page in the future, LastPass will automatically fill in your username and password, allowing you to simply click the Sign In button. All fields denoted by a red LastPass icon have been autofilled by the plugin.

Creating Secure Passwords with LastPass

LastPass can also help with keeping your online accounts secure by generating random passwords for you to use. Simply click the LastPass icon in the web browser menu bar, and then click the Generate tab.

Here, you will be able to specify the desired password length, types of characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and special), set the minimum digit count, and specify settings for avoiding ambiguous characters, and requiring every character type to be used. You can keep clicking the Generate button until you get a password that satisfies you.

LastPass can do a lot more than just remember your usernames and passwords. Check out all of the features, and view screencasts, on the LastPass Features page.

Follow this article's author, Cory Bohon on Twitter.

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Original Page: http://www.maclife.com/article/howtos/how_manage_your_passwords_lastpass

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