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So I’ve been using KeePass for the last year or two on my Windows PC and have always liked the program overall. For free, it’s a nice little utility that will keep your passwords safe and secure. Unfortunately, that’s about all it can do. If you’re someone who travels a lot or doesn’t always have their PC with them or would rather use another device altogether like an iPhone, iPad, Andriod phone, BlackBerry, etc to get things done, then KeePass falls far short as a password manager.

That’s where LastPass comes in. I just tried out LastPass about a week ago and I have to say that I love it! So what do I love so much about LastPass? Lots! And I’ll explain in this post exactly why it’s the best password manager for any browser, any mobile device and any operating system. That sounds pretty crazy right?

Well, as you can see from the image above, LastPass works on pretty much everything. Windows. Mac. Linux. IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome, Opera. BlackBerry, Android, iPhone, Symbian, Windows Phone and WebOS too! If you’re a tech freak like me, then this is great because I use 3 different browsers, I have an iPhone, iPad, HP TouchPad, and a BlackBerry. LastPass will take care of you nicely. All your passwords and sites will be synchronized and can be accessed from any device at any time.

And worried about security? Well, the reason I used KeePass for so long was that I didn’t like the fact that there was only one password someone had to get in order to access my account online. For example, once someone gets your LastPass master password, then they could login and get access to everything. They had two-factor authentication, but I never liked the grid printouts or buying some third-party token device. Never a big fan of that.

Until a week ago. That’s when LastPass announced two-factor authentication with Google Authenticator. So why is that so great? Well, you may have heard of 2-step authentication for Gmail accounts, which uses Google Authenticator. It basically ensures your account is hack-proof because you need a password and a six digit code that changes every 30 seconds or so and which you can only access via your smartphone. Of course, if someone gets your master password AND your phone, then that’s a problem, but hopefully that’ll never happen.

The great thing about Google Authenticator is that it’s super easy to setup and doesn’t require you to carry about pieces of paper or an extra device like the other multi-factor authentication methods require. You just open the app on your phone, scan the barcode on your computer’s display and you’re done! Super easy, but super secure.

And if you are someone who loves to have a mobile copy of their passwords on a USB stick or something like that, you can download LastPass Pocket, which is basically equivalent to KeePass.

And, of course, in addition to being a great password manager, it’s also great at making your online life easier. You can install the plugin/add-on for IE, Chrome or Safari and it will auto-detect the sites you are on and automatically fill in the username and passwords. What I really like, though, is when you have multiple accounts for a single site. For example, Gmail accounts! Let’s say you have three accounts, one for you, your wife and your kid.

When you hit Gmail.com, you will see an AutoFill option where you can choose which account to login with. No need to type in all that info each time you want to change accounts!

LastPass is also great on mobile devices. The only thing with that is you have to upgrade to premium, which is a whopping $12 a YEAR. Yes, it’s not free, but it’s so worth the $12. You probably spend more on coffee in a week than the amount it costs to upgrade to premium. This will give you access to all the mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Android, etc. It also cuts out the ads and gives you priority support in case you have trouble getting something to work.

Overall, I’ve had a great experience with LastPass and I feel safe that my data is secure with the multi-factor authentication (which works on the apps, browser plugins, and LastPass website). If you need a simple and secure way to access your passwords and sensitive information from anywhere at anytime, then LastPass is for you. Enjoy!

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