How to Spring Clean Your Passwords

Photo by Lucas van Oort on Unsplash

Cleaning up your passwords is the ideal place to begin your digital spring cleaning efforts. By starting here, you’re sure to stumble on more areas of your digital life that could use some attention.

You’ll want to dedicate a block of time for this task. Maybe make it a weekend project. Once you get going—particularly if this is your first time—don’t be surprised if it takes longer than you expect. Your password collection didn’t spring up overnight, and weeding it will take a bit of time. Fortunately, RoboForm will greatly simplify this process.

To clean up your passwords:

1. Launch RoboForm.
2. Delete Duplicate Logins. Do a quick scan of your Logins to identify and delete any duplicates in your RoboForm account (e.g., amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com, Amazon-1).
3. Cancel Online Accounts You No Longer Use. If you’re like most people, you’ve amassed more than a few online accounts that you haven’t used in a while and probably never will again. These orphaned accounts may seem harmless, but they’re actually a very real security risk and make you vulnerable to identity theft and financial loss. It’s best to just get rid of them.
   
   NOTE: For step-by-step instructions on deleting accounts on hundreds of sites, refer to AccountKiller.com and JustDelete.me.
   
   NOTE: After deleting an account, remember to remove it from your Logins list on RoboForm.
   
4. Change Reused and Duplicate Passwords. Identify any weak passwords or ones you’ve reused for different accounts—and change them to more secure, unique ones. If a password you’ve reused on multiple sites is exposed as part of a breach, cybercriminals will have access to all of your accounts that use this password.
   
   To easily identify weak and reused passwords, pay a visit to RoboForm’s Security Center. Not only does it identify Logins you’ve saved in RoboForm that use weak or reused passwords; it evaluates all of the passwords stored in your RoboForm account and generates a security score for your entire account.

Here’s the simplest way to change an insecure password to a strong, unique one:

• Log into the site where the password needs to be changed, and navigate to the page where you can change it.
  • If your browser supports Inplace AutoFill:
    • Click the RoboForm AutoFill Icon to the right of the new password field, then click Generate → Fill in the RoboForm New Password dialog.
      
    • Save the new password on the site, and your existing RoboForm Login will be updated automatically.
      
  • If your browser does not support Inplace AutoFill:
    • Generate a new password via the RoboForm Generate dialog (click the RoboForm Extension icon, then ).
    • Copy and paste the generated password into the new password field, and save it on the site.
    • In the RoboForm AutoSave dialog, confirm the old Login is being updated with the new password.

5. Organize Your Passwords. Reduce the frustration of identifying the Logins associated with your accounts. Rename any Logins that have been saved with names that you aren’t likely to remember, and if you’ve got multiple Logins for the same site, consider grouping them in folders on RoboForm so they’ll be easy to find.
6. Turn on Two-Factor Authentication (2FA). When you log into accounts protected with 2FA, you’re required to enter a passcode—in addition to your username and password—which provides a valuable extra level of security. Be sure to enable 2FA for your RoboForm account as well.

Once you’ve tackled your password security, maintaining it should be a breeze. Stay on top of it going forward, and you’ll never need to worry about it getting out of control again.

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