How to start using a password manager

Teach: How to start using a password manager

What to say

A password manager is a locked vault that invents and remembers a different long password for every site, so the only one you ever type is the vault's own. Pick one with a good security record, protect it with a long phrase you have never used before, add a second sign-in step, and then swap your old passwords out gradually as you log in, most important accounts first.

What to show, in order

1. Pick a manager with a long security track record, either the one built into your device or a standalone app.
2. Make the vault's phrase from five or six unrelated words, and do not use it anywhere else.
3. Write that phrase on a card and keep it at home in a drawer only you use until it sticks.
4. Add a second sign-in step to the vault itself.
5. Replace the passwords on your email, bank and phone carrier accounts first with ones the vault generates.
6. Let the vault offer to save or change each remaining password as you log in over the next month.
7. Delete old password lists in notes apps, spreadsheets or browser files once everything is in the vault.

The check question

Ask: What is the one password you still need to remember? Answer: The vault's own phrase

From EveryManKnows. General information, not professional advice.