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Health & Fitness

Q&A: What's the Best Way to Save Passwords on my PC?

This article examines the different ways to save usernames and passwords of your accounts while staying safe and productive.

If you've ever had to sign up to use a website, you needed to provide a user name and password so the next time you visit the site you can login without having to fill in all of your details again.

And in most cases you have the option for the site or your computer to remember your password for you.

If its saved by the website, most will have a check box to remember your password when you log in. Keep in mind the site is storing your information and could be vulnerable for hackers. 

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If saved by the computer, your browser will prompt you with a message to remember your log in information. This option may be safer but over time and depending how many passwords you keep, can bog down your browser speed.

These convenient shortcuts can be helpful if you regularly log in to play your favorite video game or share recipes on a message board but for sensitive material like email or banking, its strongly recommended you always manually enter your user name and password. 

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Most computer experts and online security professionals recommend changing your Internet passwords and account login information at least once every three months. This can be very effective but realistically can also be a  time-consuming task. In most cases of breached access, people choose passwords that are too weak or easily identifiable. Also make sure your security questions (if any) are difficult and not known by many.

At the end of the day its important to determine what the password is used for and how strong the password is. Using sophisticated methods like letters, numbers, special characters and capitalization in a random setting is the best action you can take.

Also, do not use the same password for multiple accounts. Adding extra layers such as a system account password, specific file encryptions, network passwords and Internet passwords can give you enhanced security. (A good tool to help you keep track of all your different credentials is using an encrypted password storage application like RoboForm, KeePass or LastPass). 

There is no "correct" way but better things you can do to protect the access to your information. One absolute rule is NEVER, EVER remember your password using a public machine and remember to log out of your accounts when done. You would be surprised how many times I go to the library and someone is still logged in their Facebook accounts. 

For more information about this or any other technology related news, visit us at www.lutchenpc.com

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