如何用一個密碼管理所有的密碼大綱

Q. For me, one hindrance to using social media and trying new things online is having to remember the various usernames and passwords. Do you have any advice on simplifying or codifying this process?

問：我使用社交媒體、在網上嘗試新事物時遇到的一個麻煩是必須記住各種用戶名和密碼。有什麼辦法能讓這件事變得容易一些嗎？

A. Paper or digital notebooks for recording account information are an inexpensive option, but they are not very secure. Using a dedicated password manager program is another solution. Such an app can take time to learn, but it can help create, organize and secure a growing collection of online credentials.

答：把賬戶信息記在紙上或電子設備裏是一個便宜的方法，但不太安全。還有一個辦法是使用專門的密碼管理程序。你需要花些時間掌握這些應用程序的使用方法，但它能幫你創立、組織並管理更多的密碼。

Most password managers work the same way: You create a master password for the program and then add the usernames and passwords for your various accounts to its database. During the setup process, some password programs can automatically help you find and add all your login information to their encrypted databases.

大部分密碼管理軟件的操作方法都是一樣的：爲這個應用程序創建一個主密碼，然後把不同賬戶的用戶名和密碼輸入它的數據庫。在創建過程中，有些密碼程序能自動尋找你的所有登錄信息，並加入它們的加密數據庫。

Later, when you have the password manager running and you visit a site that needs login information, enter your master password. The program consults its database and fills in the specific username and password for that site. You just need to remember the master password to get to all the other passwords stored in the program.

之後，如果你訪問一個需要登錄信息的網站時，密碼管理程序也在運行，那麼你只要輸入主密碼，這個程序就會訪問數據庫，把這個網站特定的用戶名和密碼填寫上去。你只需要記住主密碼，就能獲得程序裏存儲的所有其他密碼。

Most password managers have versions for Windows, Mac OS X, Android and iOS. To have your passwords available wherever you go, many programs can sync the password database across devices through a secure web connection — or locally over your own Wi-Fi network. The online storage servers for at least one password manager, LastPass, were hacked last year and even though the data was encrypted, some people may prefer to keep password data on the ground and out of the cloud.

大部分密碼管家都有Windows版、Mac OS X版、安卓版和iOS版。爲了讓你隨時隨地獲得密碼，很多程序都能通過安全的網絡連接或你自己的Wi-Fi局域網在不同設備上同步更新密碼數據庫。去年，至少有一個密碼管理程序的網上存儲服務器遭到黑客攻擊，LastPass去年就遭到了攻擊。雖然密碼數據庫是加密的，但是有些人可能更喜歡把它保存在本地，而非雲上。

LastPass has a dedicated following and offers additional authentication options like fingerprint recognition to help protect your master password. Additional cross-platform password managers to consider include Dashlane and 1Password, among many others. Prices range from free for basic use on a single device to $12 and up for an annual subscription and syncing your password vault among computers and mobile devices. Check the features offered by each program you consider, read the setup information and make sure you are comfortable with its user interface before diving in.

LastPass擁有忠誠的客戶羣，還提供其他認證方式，比如指紋識別，以幫助保護主密碼。你還可以考慮其他一些跨平臺密碼管家，比如Dashlane和1Password等。這些應用程序的價格不等，有的免費，有的需要支付12美元，提供單個設備的基本服務，還有些是繳年費，可以在電腦和移動設備上同步密碼庫。研究一下每個程序的特點，瞭解一下設定方法，在開始使用之前確保你喜歡它的用戶界面。