Using the same password on many different web sites can increase the risk of someone accessing your account information without your consent. If someone hacks into a web site that you use and steals your credentials they may be able to log into your banking and other sensitive sites if they use the same password. But using a different password for each web site can be difficult to manage. You can increase your security by using a password manager to make it easier to use different passwords. A password manager is a program that stores web site addresses, notes, login names and passwords in a database file in your computer. The database file is password protected (using a ‘master password’) and encrypted to safeguard that secret information. You can copy and paste the password into your browser or click a button to have the manager do it for you. You no longer have to remember a ton of passwords! There are a lot of password managers available on the Internet, some more secure than others. I personally use a program called KeePass Password Safe. I like this one because it’s free and very secure. You can download a copy of Keepass from http://www.keepass.info/ Since short passwords are easier to hack then long ones, when using this password manager make sure you use a long master password. My master password is between 15 and 20 characters and contains letters and numbers. Although a 15 character password is difficult to remember, it is much easier than remembering many individual passwords for different web sites. Choose a master password with an easy to remember word, followed by a few numbers, another word and a few more numbers. Backup your password database file frequently. If a crash takes out this file and you don’t have a backup you will have to use the password reset tool on all your web sites to change them.