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If your reading this, that means you are connected to the internet. And if you are connected to the internet you are guaranteed to have a minimum of 1 password, but more likely 20+ passwords to remember! In addition to keeping track of all these passwords, let’s make it more frustrating by adding the security concern behind what it means to have and protect a password. Your banking, your bills, your healthcare information and so on. All of those “digital assets” that belong to you are stored behind those passwords. That is an important amount of responsibility behind the protection of this data.

So given the amount of sensitive data that is protected with those passwords, how well do you manage and ensure they are safe and organized. In addition, are they complex enough to defeat a hacker that wants to break into your digital world?
Let’s take a quiz, how many of these items describe you Password Management plan:

• Passwords are on various sticky notes
• I have a spreadsheet or word document with passwords that is usually updated
• I have one password that is used on just about everything
• My password is the name of my grandchild or date of birth or pet

So how did you do? Did you score a 100% or close to it on this quiz? Well, think of this quiz like golf, you want a lower score!!

We all want to do the right thing, be safe and be organized, but we have not been trained on how to do this with passwords. Plus we have a lot of other things in life to worry about and this is frankly lower on the list to do research and find out what my options are and how to address this security and organization nightmare.

Let me introduce you to a new concept in our digital world…Password Managers. A password manager will generate, retrieve, and keep track of super-long, crazy-random passwords across countless accounts for you, while also protecting all your vital online info—not only passwords but PINs, credit-card numbers and their three-digit CVV codes, answers to security questions, and more—with encryption so strong that it might take a hacker between decades and forever to crack. Here is the best part of this…in order to get this, you only need to remember ONE password. With this one password all of your password data will be secured in a virtual vault.

This is not a single bullet to defend you in the digital world. You will want to take other security measures, such as setting lock screens on all your devices, using two-factor authentication on valued accounts, and only using computers that you trust.

Here are some common questions and answers to provide more details on this solution:

Q: Where Will My Passwords Be Stored?

A: You have a choice, it can be local (on your PC) or cloud-based storage. For those very secure conscious they will prefer local on your computer. However it limits when they can be available so if your traveling and need a password to use on your phone or daughter’s laptop, they are not available. Cloud based storage enables you to get to your passwords at any time. Another benefit of cloud storage is if your computer dies at home. Passwords can easily be lost if they are not backed up on the ‘cloud’.

Q: How safe is it?

A: Well, the companies that are in this business hire security professionals whose job is to make sure your data is always safe. The reason I bring this up is that these folks do this for a living, it’s their job to ensure your info is safe and secure. My guess is that they are more adept at security that you or I and therefore they are in a better position to secure your data than us.

Q: What If I Forget My Master Password?

A: All your data is now protected by ONE password. It’s vital to remember this and make it tough to guess. On the off hand if you forget it, that is not good! Some products provide a ‘backdoor’ or hint to reset your master password. But others do not.

Q: What will these cost?

A: Like all software apps out there, they run the gamut of $100+ year to $0. The price depends on what options are important to you. Here is a quick run down of some options to consider:

• Cloud based or Local Storage – Where is the data stored , on server or local machine
• Do you want to have your data available on only one device or is it important to have when you travel or have it on different devices (tablet, work pc, home pc, phone)
• Do you have separate operating systems to consider: an iMac at home, a Windows computer in the office or a Droid or Apple phone?
• Do you want to share passwords with family members so that you can keep a copy of your wife or kids passwords.
• Do you want to have it alert you if a company you store your password with has a security breach?
• Do you have more than 5 or 10 or 20 passwords?
• Do you want to store your credit card info and have it fill in when you are in a web page?

Products available

There are many products out there that contain some, many or all of the above options. It’s all a matter of what options are more important than other options, along with how much do you want to pay. There is one final determination to make on this: how diligent will you be? How much time and effort do you want to put into this process to learn it and maintain it?

As these decisions are all personal and based on what is important to you, there is not a single product that is top of the list. Rather than selecting a “top product” I will tell you that I use Last Pass and find it very helpful as it stores all my passwords, organizes them efficiently and is accessible on multiple computers, tablets and phones. In addition when a password changes it “detects” the change for me and prompts me to ask if I want to update it. In addition when I land on a page that requires me to log in, it pre-fills in my username and password for me, so I don’t have to remember or type it in. I love this time saver!
Well, I will leave you with a few good articles and links to help educate you and provide you guidance on what products may be a good fit for you.

Links:

• Consumer reports – good article to explain these tools
• CNET guide to 2018 best Password Managers
• PC Magazine guide to 2018 best Password Manager review tools
• Tom’s Guide (a very trusted source in tech) on using Last Pass 

Funny videos:

Very funny (and clean video)
https://youtu.be/8GxqvnQyaxs – Funny excerpt from the TV Show “The Office” on a password (not as clean)

funny Videos that are a bit off color:

(these are not clean and contain some foul language. Some would consider these funny):

• very funny!
• creative funny wifi passwords
• VicDiBitetto getting a new phone
• Vic’s username (I fall off the chair laughing at this one)

ME: “Alexa how do I start off a segment in a newsletter?”

ALEXA: “Well I would start by saying what it’s about”.

Four years ago in November Amazon released one of their biggest products ever and that product was the Amazon Echo. The Amazon Echo is part of the huge and ever growing Alexa family. There are currently eight members in the Alexa family and there are still plans for more. Each product does something different than its sibling but they all have the one common goal, to help.  Here is a list of all the amazing Amazon Echo products :

• Echo Connect- Allows you to control your WiFi and your landlines, and even make calls from it.
• Echo Dot- Smallest of the family. Has all the features of the original Echo just in a smaller more compact package
• Echo- This is the original Alexa that has all the features that you will soon hear about.
• Echo Tap- This is a portable Alexa that you can charge and then take with you wherever you go. Has built in speaker so you can enjoy some music on the go.
• Echo Spot- Includes all the great features of the Echo but also has a front facing camera that allows for video calls.
• Echo Plus- This Alexa is the original Echo but plus sized. Its taller with better range and louder speakers.
• Echo Look- This one is your own personal fashion assistant. The Echo Look will take pictures of you in your outfits when you ask and it will analyze your clothes and suggest similar clothes to buy.
• Echo Show- This Echo is a bigger version of the Echo Spot with a nicer camera and a better screen.

When Amazon released the first Echo they had intentions on it being a personal, hands free, voice activated, assistant. It has truly lived up to their expectations. They didn’t intend on it sparking a reaction in the AI (artificial intelligence) world. Thanks to Alexa almost every company that makes technology gadgets wants to make their own version. What those companies don’t realize though is that none of their personal assistants even come close to Alexa. Alexa has the capability to help people do almost anything in the house. Lets see everything she can do.

ME: “Alexa turn on the lights please”

ALEXA: “Sure thing!”.

The ability to control your lights is just one of endless features that Alexa has. Thanks to Alexa you can have complete control over your house just with a simple phrase. The lights, television, stove, music, thermostat, roomba, and even the doorbell all have the ability to be controlled by Alexa in turn being controlled by your voice. You may be wondering to yourself “well I dont need some robot to control all of those things for me”. That may be true but we all know that there are sometimes that you just don’t want to get up from your seat or you can’t get up from your seat because you’re busy. That is where Alexa comes in handy. If you are busy with something but you need to preheat the oven for dinner tonight then tell Alexa to do it. She can turn on your oven or start the washing machine thanks to her amazing compatibility with smart appliances. All of these things can be controlled just by saying a few words.

Let’s get back to cooking dinner though shall we. Cooking can be rough sometimes. It requires all lot of ingredients, time, and effort, and two out of three of those things can be managed by Alexa. Can you guess which ones? I’ll tell you anyway. The answers are ingredients and time. When your cooking you need a lot of ingredients and sometimes you run out of things. Well if you have an Alexa nearby then you can just tell her to add it to your shopping list. That isn’t all she can do though. When it comes time to go shopping for everything you but on your list you can just have Alexa print out your list for you. So you’re still cooking and you put something in the oven and it needs to be in there for twenty-five minutes. All you need to do is tell Alexa to set a timer for however long you want and she will alert you when the time is up.

Dinner is now ready and you need to tell everyone in the house. Instead of screaming to everyone what you can do is connect to all the Alexas in the house and use it like an intercom system. Just like that you are able to communicate with everyone in the house even if they are on different floors and you don’t even have to raise your voice. These are just some of the many new ways that Alexa is changing and automating what we can do.  Stay tuned for more new features they will think up to help improve our lives through artificial intelligence!

Some funny videos

• Careful with what the kids say around Alexa (intended for over 18)
• Funny questions to ask Alexa 

About the Author

Brendan Nangle is the author of this post.  Brendan is enthralled with all things digital and in particular the ability to reduce any and all manual steps.  He enjoys experimenting with Alexis products and gadgets as well as all things mobile!   Stay tuned for more articles from Brendan.