Password managers -what a royal mess!

[lparsons21]

I've been looking for a good cross-platform password manager and it is very frustrating. I've checked all the big names and some smaller ones and they all work up to a point. And that point is that while everyone talks about using them to manage the slew of passwords we have these days, many sites make it nearly impossible to use the more automated methods with them.

Dish Network, Capitalone and many banks just do login/passswords in hinky ways which makes having a more fully featured password manager just an effort in frustration as you have to do this at that site, or do this other way at that site.

A little background. I was in the process of moving from the Apple world back to Windows. Currently have an HP AIO desktop and a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro. On windows 8.1 a very simple password manager that is basically just a nice encrypted database controlled by the program with the encrypted data on OneDrive. App is called Password Padlock and couldn't be simpler. But it does nothing automagically except create passwords if you ask it to. Simple and works well.

But I guess I've been a Mac guy too long, and just can't give up the Apple ecosystem. And that's where it gets fun. The password managers work differently depending on platform. OSX, Windows8.1, iOS you name it, each does it just a little differently. And then also the different browsers do it different too.

So I'm looking for suggestions for a simple cross-platform password locker with the ability to generate passwords that I can just cut 'n paste out of. To me that seems the simplest and most consistent way to do it.

 

[StanDarsh]

LastPass. I've been using it in Firefox, on android, as an app on Android, plus on my Firefox for android browser...they all work. Lastpass even pops up on my phone when I open an app that requires a login -- not just for website anymore.
if I start my Dish Anywhere app..the lastpass fill window will pop up and I select which Dish net account I want to sign in with, since I have 2 sign-ins for Dish.
If I open Facebook on my browser on Win 7 65-bit...then log-out of my wife's, this is what I get to click on and fill in automatically: (See photo)

 

[thomasjk]

I use LastPass and am generally pleased.
There are a few sites that require special handling. Dish is not one of them. I can autologin to Dish and most others. You do need the Premium version for cross platform use. Its $12/yr.

 

[StanDarsh]

Added side note...I pay like..$12 bucks/year for "premium"...

What do I get...I'm not sure...but there are some pro features that I remember it added, so I bought that like..2-3 years ago.

 

[thomasjk]

LastPass is available here https://lastpass.com

 

[lparsons21]

I've got LastPass premium. IF I was using just one platform, it would be the one because even though some sites are handled differently, there is consistency. Cross to another platform and it isn't consistent at all. Reading in their forums, that is a specific complaint that shows up now and then.

But after I posted I found exactly what I want. Enpass!

Enpass is basically a locker for all the passwords, will generate new ones and is the most consistent across platforms. Desktop versions are free and it runs on virtually all platforms. iOS (and I think Android) versions cost $9.99 and that cost covers all iOS devices.

I can't believe I missed this one when I was digging around. Unfortunately it doesn't have a 'modern' version for W8.1 but that may be a blessing in disguise. LastPass's modern version just doesn't cut it at all for me.

One other thing that was hinky with LastPass on IE11 (desktop version) on my Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro w/3200x1800 screen is that the icon for LastPass is almost invisible it is so tiny! It works fine, just can't select it with a finger.

Thanks for the feedback guys.

 

[lparsons21]

Let me chew on a little crow. Stuff is still inconsistent, but some of it was user induced.

For example, I manually setup all the accounts and for Dish Network, that didn't work. So after reading here I decided to take a different tack.

Deleted my manual Dish Network entry. Then went to mydish.com picked login, typed in login/password and then told lastpass to save the site. Closed everything down and tried it again with LastPass and voila` all worked fine.

....so a little duck sauce and lightly sautéed???

 

[StanDarsh]

Lastpass works pretty hard at squashing bugs. There is also a new one coming out, it's in the testing stage right now, but it has Intel's name on it. The test paused for Christmas break but is set to start back in beta this week. But for something already out, Lastpass has worked great for years for me. And using IE...might be part of the problem..I haven't used IE in ages. There are so many options for LP to fill forms, and anyone who's seen where lastpass started and where they are now knows that they have REALLY came a long way in usability. (from clicking the icon at the top of menu bar to clicking in the username/password field itself to have LP open a drop-down...years ago that was just a dream)

 

[lparsons21]

The one place that LP and the other auto=fillers seem to be the most problematic is with IE11 Modern version. It doesn't seem to support plugins or at least not give you the bar to use some of them.

LP made a Modern version of the software with its own browser that works sometimes with some sites, but that seems to be the case with some other 'modern' apps. Too limited in functionality in some ways.

Overall I prefer the IE11 Modern version for most web surfing as it is touch/tablet friendly.

I've got Chrome and Safari also, and LP works much better with them.

 

[StanDarsh]

I've found LP flawless on FF latest ver...even sites with "weird" logins seem to work.

LP also has a browser for Android, which I have used, but I prefer FF since it's got sync/etc...I use my bookmarks across several devices from FF.

 

[KE4EST]

Same here with LP, it works great every where I go. No matter what browser I use or platform. I will have to add though, that I too have not used IE much in years, so don't know about that. I tried IE again last year sometime just to see if it had gotten better like I had heard. Nope, ran into issues(not LP but other inconsistencies), so went back to FF and Chrome.

 

[SatelliteGAL]

Another LastPass user here. I've used it on IE, FF, Chrome, android phone. I also pay for premium.

 

[lparsons21]

Well after all these posts I kept playing around with it. On IE modern or with LastPass's Modern app, things are very twitchy. That's the bad.

The very good is that it works nearly flawlessly for me with IE desktop, FF, Chrome and Safari and that holds true on the Mac and iPad Air 2.

Must be some limits to 'modern' apps.

Thanks for all the feedback, it is appreciated.

 

[lparsons21]

One issue that was bugging me after all this is that I have to go to the desktop version of whatever browser I want to use. For all the wonderful way that IE Modern version has, it just doesn't support plug-ins and other things.

So I set Chrome to be the default browser and in Modern mode. Essentially that makes it look and run just like Chrome OS for all practical purposes. It gets along well with the Modern screen, it supports touch well enough though not exactly the same as IE.

If you use the Modern UI on your laptop/desktop/hybrid, you should consider doing this.

Just for info, they were looking at offering this for Firefox also, but it appears that has been abandoned because of not enough interest.

The only downside I see to using Chrome is that it lets Google back in!!

 

[king3pj]

All the recent data breaches have me considering using something like LastPass to create complex passwords that are unique to each web service I use. I am currently one of the people using more simple passwords so that I can remember them. I'm also guilty of using 4 or 5 passwords across multiple services even though I know that isn't the best idea.

Here is my concern though. I'm assuming that since services like LastPass sync your passwords on multiple devices all of your user accounts have to be stored on a LastPass server somewhere. It seems like that fact would make LastPass a major target for hackers. How do we know that LastPass won't suffer a data breach and give out our account information for every web service we use? In that scenario we wouldn't just have one web account compromised but all of them. What makes them so much more secure than the banks and other websites that are constantly breached?

 

[lparsons21]

Those are fair questions and I sure don't have the answers!

I was doing OK for password management with a simple, cheap password locker program on Windows. Worked on all Windows devices and I could store the 'locker' on my OneDrive space in encrypted form. The only password that was stored on my local computer was the 'master' password that allowed me to even see the others.

LastPass works in much the same way, though it is cross-platform and more fully featured. I would prefer that they allow me to keep the 'store' of my passwords in a place of my choosing, but that's not allowed.

 

[king3pj]

Yeah, I guess I'm just not sure if having a bunch of strong passwords saved in a central location on the internet is really safer than me just memorizing 4 or 5 weaker passwords to use on various websites.

There could very well be an explanation for why this is a stupid concern for me to have. I'm sure there has to be some kind of encryption in place. Even so, banks and other large corporations have to be using some kind of encryption too and you still hear about customer data being stolen pretty regularly.