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Yes. Anecdote: I was doing my periodic visit with my grandmother, where I tend to any overdue computer/software maintenance, resolve any questions she has, ins
by neogodless 7y ago
Yes.
Anecdote: I was doing my periodic visit with my grandmother, where I tend to any overdue computer/software maintenance, resolve any questions she has, install new things if needed (i.e. someone got her a printer which she likes to use for printing photos, but it was still in the box.)
As we were going through some things, she didn't know her password for everything; she had a notebook, but it wasn't organized enough. Eventually we figured out or reset each password as needed. (She only has a few total!)
Part of me wanted to utilize a password manager; after all we could use some proper long, randomly generated ones! But I was there on the fence of... what happens when she's stuck and I'm not sitting next to her to help?
To be sure, I have about a billion online accounts. I use unique email addresses and passwords (and a password manager) so I don't really hesitate to create accounts that aren't asking me for any real information about me. And along with that, I come upon the edge cases where if you're using Firefox for Android and Bitwarden, the web site some how goes out of its way to ensure that I will end up having to type in a super complex password (or close my browser tab and walk away). My grandmother almost certainly won't hit those same edges cases. She's got email and one social media account and that's just about it. And she'll need to write down that one mega password for the password manager, and learn some new things.
So I'm not sure if it's right for her. Definitely a consideration, though, and to your point, sometimes I get angry and wish there were consequences for the companies that work so hard to break things like password managers on their web sites and in their software!
- dublinben 7y agoA paper notebook is a password manager. It's a perfectly acceptable solution for most people, especially if they are not very tech-savvy.
- matthewowen 7y agoFor a lot of users, a notebook next to the computer really is the best password manager possible. Someone physically stealing it really isn't the threat model we're worried about, and for the frequency of logging into things, it's not a big deal to have to copy out of a book. Make the passwords memorable phrases ("correct horse battery staple") etc to make them easy to type in.
- ethbro 7y ago> Make the passwords memorable phrases ("correct horse battery staple") etc to make them easy to type in. (Insert obligatory XKCD on relative complexity) ... Gee, it sure would be nice if all sites simply allowed long-length passwords without bizarre, mutually-incompatible special character requirements. At least the 2017 updated NIST guidelines swung back sane (less complexity requirements, 64 character maximum). So in... a couple decades we'll be able to reliably use long passwords.