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Kyle SantosFlag for United States of America

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What is the best password manager?

I have passwords that my browser (Chrome) manages.  But lets say I login a different machine that wouldn't have that information saved.  What are my options to make this an easier experience for me?
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Wow those 14 days went by quick!  Sorry about the delay in my response to your suggestions.  I went with Last Pass.
Kyle,

I'm interested, why lastpass?  Not that I will object, it is just that you are the third person I know who has evaluated several password managers and decided on LP.
The reason is: I've had coworkers recommend LastPass too (apparently, its had over 5 million downloads to date).  My father in law has used RoboForm and he swears by that.  At this time, I am going to give LastPass a shot and if I don't like it will try another option mentioned here. :)
Makes sense, thanks for taking the time to answer.  I admit I swore, past tense, by Roboform - after using it for over a decade, but now use StickyPassword.  If you are interested I have a chart comparing the most popular consumer password managers and their features.
Yes, please!
A number of considerations revolve around using a password manager.  

1.  Security.  You need to know your stuff is secure.   That means your data is encrypted and nobody has the encryption key but you.  the LastPass local app does all the encryption on the local device.  All your data in the cloud is encrypted before it gets there and even LastPast tech can't access it.  Warning, if you forget your master password, you lose all your data.  

2.  Ability to capture credentials, form data, and general data you need protected (like credit card numbers).  Some password managers are better at capturing logon credentials and managing changed passwords.   This gets tricky when some sites do it over two or more screens.  Recognizing password changes is another tricky area.  LastPass provides some in line capabilities to help and allows you to see and edit sites and your passwords.   You need to try the products to see how well they handle this stuff.

3.  Platform support and portability.  Android, iPhone, iPad, Windows, MAC, Linux and all the iterations of browsers they can run is another differential.  Last Pass provides support for all the OS and devices mentioned and most of the browsers.   They have a portable version that works with a portable firefox or portable chrome that runs from a USB for Windows or Linux.  They can store your data on a USB stick (LastPass pocket) for situations where you don't have access to the Internet, but need your passwords for non internet activity.  

4. Management.  You need to be able to manage your stuff, organize it, maybe even share some of it.  For example you may want a profile for work and a different profile for home.  You may want to share a few passwords with members of your team.   If you logon to google at work you might have a different ID than the one you use for home.  If you place an order for ink at work, you probably need a different shipping address than what you use at home.  With LastPass, you can select the profile at the time you use it.

5.  Provider stability.   You need to protect against your product being discontinued or provider going out of business.  Password managers like lastpass, are really good at building your comfort zone to the point you rely on them to remember all your passwords.  What happens when they go out of business?  Can you back up and access your data without the Internet?   How likely is the product you choose to exist in 5, 10, or more years?    Two parts to this answer, one,  covered above, about offline access to your data.  The second is the size and breadth of your providers business.  How are they funded, how many customers (paying and not paying).

6.  Reliability.  What is the uptime of their website (for cloud based activity).  How well does the product react to changes on the website you want to reach?   Banks lately have been changing their logon methods.  Can you still get at your accounts?  Maybe the password manger can navigate the changes, maybe not.  If you don't know/remember your passwords can you get access to them (especially important if you let the manager create complex passwords for you)?  

You sort of have to rank the concerns as you compare products.  Certainly some will perform better or slicker in one way or another.
I know that this question is solved, but just wanted to add my 2c to this comment..
My father in law has used RoboForm and he swears by that
Your father in law has the right idea :)

Having used both Lastpass and Roboform myself, for me, there was no contest in so far as ease of use and flexibility. I settled on Roboform and have never looked back. I have it installed on all of my computers, PC, MAC, Mobile and IPads. If I update 1, then everything else is instantly updated as well.  

The product also handles changes to web sites quite well too. My bank seems to change its login process a couple of times a year. When that happens, all I do is right click, select "Fill and Submit" and am then prompted by Roboform to re-save the page login details. I click ok and it's done - on all my Roboform installed devices.

For me, lastpass just doesn't compare.  You should really take a test drive of it :)

Cheers..
I used roboform for years and recommend it highly.  The only reason i changed to sticky password (which ended up working very well) is i was offered a free lifetime subscription.
Thanks for the heads up Thomas. StickyPasswords I've never used myself, but seeing as you seem to speak quite highly about it, I'll install it into one of the VM's I frequently use and give it a bit of a run.  I always like to stay on top of different products that get a positive user experience review.

Best..
Incidentally, one other plus about Roboform is the ease of ability it provides to roll back to previously saved configurations with its cloud interface.  

I thought I'd point this out because (in past conversations I've participated in) some have considered that updating all devices instantly can be more of a hindrance than a help if a mistake is made and one saves incorrectly (I did that once myself) or deletes things accidentally, which admittedly can sometimes happen when used on a small device like an IPhone and you have fat fingers like me. <g>

If you take advantage of its database backup safeguards though, rolling back to a previously saved database to undo accidental changes is easy and quite effortless. Absolutely love the thing here :)
I never used that.  Always was too paranoid and erased all data in cloud after syncing. It is much more difficult,  I think,  to get to cloud housed pwds using sp.