Picking One and Installing It (Read the Screen to Me)
Okay so. Last lesson we talked about why a password manager beats your brain, full stop. Today we actually do it.
This is the lesson where laptops are open, we're going slow, and if something on your screen doesn't match what I'm describing, stop me. Actually stop me. Say "Tod, my screen says something different." That's not you doing it wrong, that's just how software is, every version's a little different and mine will not look exactly like yours. Read the screen to me and we'll figure it out together.
Which one do I even pick
I'm not going to hand you a ranked list of eleven options with feature comparisons, because that's how people freeze and close the laptop. Here's what actually matters for our purposes:
- It should work on your phone AND your computer, since your passwords need to follow you around.
- It should have what's called a "free tier" or a cheap tier, so you're not committing fifty dollars before you know if you'll use it.
- It should be one that's been around a while and that other people in this class have heard of, because for tonight, having a neighbor two seats over who already did this is worth more than the fanciest feature.
I'll write two or three names on the board. Pick one. Don't spend twenty minutes comparing. This is a decision you can change later and almost nobody does, so don't let it be the hard part.
The actual install, step by step
- Go to the actual website, typed in yourself, not clicked from an email or an ad. Takes two extra seconds and it's just a good habit.
- Download it. It's going to land in your Downloads folder, which, you know how I feel about Downloads. That's fine for tonight, we're using it in about four minutes anyway.
- Open it and it'll ask you to create an account. This means an email address and one password. This one password is the last one you'll ever really have to remember. I'm serious. Write it somewhere safe for tonight only — we'll talk in a second about what "safe" means here — and after tonight it lives in your head and nowhere else.
- It'll probably offer a "browser extension." Say yes to that. That's the thing that pops up and offers to fill in your passwords for you later, which is most of the magic.
- It'll ask if you want it on your phone too. Yes. Takes two minutes, do it now while I'm standing here instead of "I'll do it later," because later doesn't come, I've watched it not come.
Does that make sense so far... Nod at me or don't, I'm watching faces.
The one master password rule that actually matters
Here's the thing though. Do NOT change this master password again tonight without saving the new one first. I mean this from real experience, not theory.
I once locked myself out of an account because I was so organized I changed a password and hadn't saved the new one yet — turned my phone off between the change and the save, like an idiot, and lost forty minutes getting back in. So: save first, then change. Not change then save. Save first. It's a small rule and it will save you a genuinely bad evening.
Now let's actually load something in
Don't try to load all your passwords tonight. That's the version-one mistake, where you build something so big on day one that you hate it by day four. Load in three. Your email, one bank or financial thing, and one you use a lot, like a shopping site.
For each one, the app usually has an "add new" button, you paste in the website, your username, your password, done. If it offers to "import" from your browser, say yes, that'll pull in some of what's already saved in Chrome or wherever, and save you some typing.
This is genuinely the same move I did with Angela's photos, if I'm honest — this whole class runs on the idea that things aren't actually lost or hard, they're just not in a home yet. She thought eleven years of photos were gone off an old dead phone. They were sitting in a backed-up folder, just never opened, buried under a folder literally called "New Folder (3)." Nothing was lost. It just didn't have a name yet. Same thing tonight — your passwords aren't disorganized forever, they just don't have a home yet, and we're building the home right now.
A plain opinion, since we're here
A password manager is safer than your brain, full stop. I know it feels backwards to put all your passwords in one place instead of scattered around in your memory or on sticky notes. But your brain reuses passwords because it's tired, and sticky notes sit right on the monitor for anyone to read. One good, long master password, saved somewhere safe, protecting everything else — that's the trade that actually works.
If you're on a Mac
A couple of you are on Macs and I'll be honest, I'm a Windows guy mostly and I get a little turned around in newer Mac menus. If that's you, pair up with somebody else on a Mac tonight, and if nobody's on a Mac near you, wave me over and we'll figure it out together, slowly, reading the screen out loud. 👍
Before next time
Get your three passwords loaded in and log out and back in once, just to prove to yourself it works without you standing over it. That's it, that's the whole assignment. 🌞