Are you being driven NUTS by all the passwords??

OK, so we think we are losing our minds as we age.  It's not just that the teenagers and young adults in our lives are telling us so.

I don't know about you, but I still need to mentally recite my entire social security number when someone asks for the last 4 digits.

So, as we Midlife New Media Newbies embark on the web, is it ONLY ME who is frustrated with how for pity's sake are we supposed to keep all the usernames and passwords straight for all of those nifty online web applications?????

I think it is doubly frustrating as a freelancer/ solopreneur/ entrepreneur/solo practitioner….because who do we lean on to keep ourselves organized?  Just another case in which we need to look in the mirror.

I will assume that it is not just me.  At least I know that Elizabeth is in the same camp as I because we talked about it briefly this morning.

Here is my method….so far   I keep a spreadsheet and list them all.  And though I do NOT keep somethings in my life as updated as I should, I DO religiously keep my password file updated with any new applications I join and any usernames and passwords that I change.  Otherwise, I would be insane.

As of this morning, my file has 70 lines.  Maybe in addition to keep all my web tools straight, I should sift through them and do a little house cleaning??

So, that is one method.

However, there are tools that you can acquire to help with this.  They are called "Password Managers".  Some cost money, others are free.  They keep them for you out on the web (usually) and you just need ONE password to access them.

So, if you are curious, type the term "Password Manager" into Google and check them out.  Remember that the top ones listed  and those down the right side are "sponsored links"…meaning they paid Google to be there….they are not necessarily the best nor the most used.

I did do a little digging and found this review out on Lifehacker from last August: http://lifehacker.com/5042616/five-best-password-managers

The best 5 they note are:

Sxipper (All platforms)
KeePass (All platforms)
1Password (Mac OS X)
RoboForm (Windows)
Firefox's Password Manager (All platforms)

We hope your week is starting great after our lovely "Spring Forward" yesterday.  ( I told my daughter this morning at 7 am on her way to school that I didn't care what the clock said, it still felt like 6 am to me!!

Barb