Occasionally, I’ll write about great apps here. 1Password by Agilebits is one of them.

With so many websites, programs, apps et. al requiring accounts with passwords, many persons will choose to use the same password over and over. THIS IS DANGEROUS! Why? Because if a bad guy ever gets ahold of that password, you could be ruined – financially, and otherwise. But, you say, it’s hard to remember different passwords for all these various entities, let alone make them secure as 12 or more characters with mixed cases and other characters. I agree, it is difficult. So here’s my question: How about just remembering ONE password? If you can do that, you’re life is about to become more secure and hopefully, your peace of mind will be increased as well.

Here’s just a few things I use 1Password for every day: When I need to create an account on a website, say Amazon, I simply go to the site (my browser of choice is Google Chrome, but 1Password will also work with Safari and Firefox) and get to the form page to start my registration. Having already populated my Identity in 1Password, all my info, my name, address, etc. can be filled in automatically. Next, and here’s the best part, when I need to create a password for my new account, I just have 1Password generate a 12 character password like 6pbzDjXjqGB8. There is no way on heaven’s green earth I will ever remember that password. But, 1Password will! In order to use that password later, all I have to know is my ONE password to unlock 1Password. Sound good? We’re only just getting started.

How about when I’m out and about and all I have is my iPhone or Android device? There are separate programs for Mac and those other devices. For iOS 8 and above, 1Password is now free for basic use and costs under $10 if you want the premium version. If I keep my encrypted, 1Password file on Dropbox or iCloud, all my devices will sync seamlessly so if I’ve just created a new password on my Mac, and go out, my iPhone now has that same secure password on it!

What about all the times you go to purchase something online and you have to hunt for your credit card to enter that information? Well, 1Password will store that information securely as well. Then, when you go to make a purchase, you just engage 1Password and it fills in all the necessary information – including your three or four digit secure code!

1Password can keep track of your software licenses, email configurations, wifi configurations if you need to store something securely, 1Password is the program to do that for you. I was talking today with some computer friends. We began the conversation talking about software we use on a daily basis and couldn’t live without. For me, 1Password is one of those programs.

Here’s to safer computing.

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