Change all of your passwords at once with Dashlane

Change all of your passwords at once with Dashlane

Dashlane's new Password Changer feature does the password-changing legwork for you, letting you change all or a selection of your passwords with a couple of clicks.

Matt Elliott/CNET

Whenever a big security breach such as Heartbleed occurs, I engage in an internal dialogue in an effort to determine if it's worth the hassle to change my admittedly weak passwords. The debate ends up boiling down to this question: is the threat of some of my accounts getting hacked greater than the time and effort required to change my passwords?

With Dashlane, I no longer have to crunch the numbers to decide whether I need to change my passwords. Today, it released a new feature that lets you change all or some of your passwords with a few clicks of your mouse. Dubbed Password Changer, the new feature is in beta and available for the PC and Mac versions of Dashlane; it will come to Dashlane's mobile apps soon, according to therelease.

You can sign up for Password Changer on Dashlane's site to be added to the waitlist. When I signed up earlier today, there were more than 8,000 people ahead of me, although tweeting about it dropped me to 450th in line.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

When the feature arrives for your account, you will see a Password Changer button with an orange beta tag at the top of the Dashlane app. It opens a new Dashlane window where you can check off the accounts that need a new password, or you can check the box for Auto-change password at the top to select all of your accounts listed. Click the green Change password button and Dashlane will change all of your passwords.

(For the curious, the "auto" in Auto-change refers to the fact that Dashlane is changing your passwords for you instead of making you manually create passwords, as opposed to Dashlane changing your passwords on some sort of schedule moving forward.)

To see the new passwords that Dashlane created for you, head back to the main Passwords page of Dashlane, mouse over one of your accounts, and click the gear icon to see its settings. Next, click thelock icon next to the password field to view your new password. In addition to doing the password-changing legwork for you, Dashlane's Password Changer also creates stronger passwords than you would likely create, if left to your own devices.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

In my experience, not all of my accounts showed up on the Password Changer window. In fact, accounts that used the same email that I used to create my Dashlane account were not listed. According to Dashlane's developers, "On the Mac version, we have a feature which prevents you from using Password Changer on the account you use as your Dashlane ID. We did this because if you change this password (intentionally or accidentally), and don't know the password, you might get stuck not being able to receive a token from us, which would prevent you from using o Dashlane anymore."

I am awaiting an answer why this issue is specific to Macs and will update this post when I hear back. In the meantime, if you are on a Mac, you might consider creating a new email account to use for your Dashlane log-in.

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Stop missing updates from friends on Facebook

Stop missing updates from friends on Facebook

Instead of scrolling through your entire Facebook timeline for updates from your closest friends or family, try using this list instead.

Nicole Cozma/CNET

If you have a lot of friends on your Facebook profile, then you know how crazy it can get when trying to keep up with everyone's status updates. You may have tried using the Most Recent mode for your timeline, but the posts you want to read get lost in a sea of game updates and location check-ins.

To keep track of the most important updates, you should add people to your Close Friends list. The main reason for using this list provided by Facebook, instead of making your own, is notifications. You can also adjust the types of notifications you receive for people on the list. Ready to get started? Here's how:

The list manager on Facebook.Screenshot by Nicole Cozma/CNET

Step 1: Open the Facebook list management page, then click on Close Friends.

The Manage List button lets you add many friends to your your list at once.Nicole Cozma/CNET

Step 2: When the list page displays, click the Manage List button and then choose Edit List.

Click the pictures of friends you want to add to your list.Nicole Cozma/CNET

Step 3: In the pop-up window, click the drop-down menu labeled On This List and select Friends. Now you can click on the pictures of friends you want on the list, or search by name. Click Finish.

Uncheck the updates you don't want to receive about Close FriendsNicole Cozma/CNET

Step 4:Click the Manage List button, then click Choose Update Types. The menu will load a list of update types; make sure there are checkmarks next to the updates you want to receive. For instance, you may want to remove Game updates -- unless you like them.

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How and why to set up and use a password manager

How and why to set up and use a password manager

Commit to a password manager to make your online life easier and more secure.

Matt Elliott/CNET

Let's start with the why. The reason why you should use a password manager is twofold: it makes your online life more secure -- and easier in the process.

A password manager stores the passwords for your various online accounts and profiles and saves you from having to remember and enter each one each time you visit a password-protected site. Instead, your passwords are encrypted and held by your password manager, which you then protect with a master password. Since you are saved from having to remember all of your passwords, you will be less tempted by the dangerously poor idea of using the same password for all of your accounts. With a password manager, you can create strong passwords for all of your accounts and keep all of those passwords saved behind a stronger master password, leaving you to remember but a single password.

Which password manager you choose to use is less important than actually choosing one and then using it. Most password managers offer limited free services with paid plans via either a subscription or paid app that lets you store an unlimited number of passwords and sync them across devices, including Windows PCs, Macs and mobile devices. To help you choose the right product for your purposes, Jason Parker earlier this year wrote about six of the best password managers.

Regardless of the password manager you end up picking, the setup process is roughly the same. I use PasswordBox because the app was recently acquired by Intel Security and is currently giving the store away for free. Without paying a cent, I can store as many passwords as I have while syncing across my Windows desktop, MacBook Pro, and iPhone and iPad. According to the Password Box blog, it is offering premium subscriptions for free until it releases its next product.

Setting up a password manager

With PasswordBox, you can sign up for an account via its mobile app or the PasswordBox website on a computer. I chose the latter and downloaded PasswordBox from its website, which turned out to be a browser extension. I created my free account by giving my name, email, and choosing a master password. Before we proceed, allow me a few words on creating a strong password.

Your master password should not be be a repeat or even a derivative of one of your other passwords currently in use. Create a unique password that contains at least eight characters, including both upper- and lower-case letters, numbers and symbols.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

After creating your account, you can then use the browser extension and the mobile app to add your accounts. PasswordBox lists a number of the more popular services such as Dropbox, Facebook and Twitter, and you can manually add others. Like other password managers, PasswordBox can store more than just your passwords. It has a Wallet section for storing credit card numbers, your social security number and the like. You can also securely share passwords with other PasswordBox users, and there is a password generator that creates strong passwords to replace the weak passwords you are likely using for many if not all of your online accounts. Lastly -- and I do mean lastly -- there is a Legacy Locker feature that will share your passwords with a trusted friend or family member in the event of your demise, helping your family manage your digital life after your actual life has ended.

Using a password manager

After a little legwork up front to add your password-protected accounts to your password manager of choice, you will then be free of the effort required to remember your bevy of passwords and entering them. For the accounts you have stored with PasswordBox, for example, you'll be automatically logged in.

Screenshot by Matt Elliott/CNET

If that's too easy for you, you can disable Auto-Login for certain accounts, which will require you to click or tap the log-in button (PasswordBox will still enter your username and password for you). If you have multiple accounts for a site, PasswordBox provides a drop-down menu to let you choose which account you'd like to use.

A word about security before we conclude

All password managers use some level of encryption to protect your identity. PasswordBox, for example, uses Advanced Encryption Standard (AES-256) to encrypt the passwords you store with it. And it does not store your master password, which means there is no way it can fall into the wrong hands -- while also meaning that you must remember it because there is no way to recover it should you forget it.

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