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Spring Cleaning for your Digital Life

LastPassApril 02, 2018
I know spring cleaning is no fun – and I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise. But while you’re procrastinating cleaning your house or the trunk of your car, how about taking some steps to clean up your digital life? Trust me, it’s easier than cleaning your oven… I think.  Here are some easy steps you can take this Spring to keep you safe all year long. 

Run your security challenge and change important passwords 

If you’re a LastPass user, you’ve probably already taken our security challenge. But it’s important to take it regularly to see where your weak or reused passwords are, and especially as your passwords age every year. Once you can see your weaknesses, LastPass can help you change your passwords automatically

Back up your data

We’ve all had that moment when our phone gets smashed or soaked and all your important information on that device is lost. Back up your data so you don’t put yourself at risk. And it’s not just about your phone; think about your home laptop and work computer, too. Do you save all your important documents on your desktop? If something happens to your computer, those docs are gone. Get an external hard drive or 3rd-party cloud back up service where you can store one or more copies of everything. Be sure to create copies of important physical documents, too, like passports and insurance cards. You can store those in LastPass for access to the information when you need it, without having the actual document. 

Clean up your password vault

Once you start storing passwords and website details in a password manager, it’s incredible how many accounts you accumulate. According to our Password Expose report, the average LastPass user is managing 191 passwords. Of course, LastPass makes it easy to manage those passwords, but it’s still important to go back and close out old accounts if you’re not using them anymore. It’s easy to forget the one-off purchases, forum registrations, and the latest hot apps that all require an account.  Make a habit of reviewing your vault regularly and close the accounts that you no longer use or need. Why let a company have your information if you aren’t doing business with them?

Update your software

Stop hitting that snooze button when your computer prompts you to update your software. Many times software is updated to protect against security flaws. So, if you don’t update, your device may still be vulnerable. Update your browsers, extensions, computer OS, mobile apps – do a full check to make sure you're up-to-date and protected.

Flush your browser

You probably will accumulate a lot of cookies and other tracking in your browser as time goes on. It's a good idea to periodically clear your browser cache for "all time," giving yourself a fresh start. And if you're concerned about adware, consider an extension like AdBlock Plus to help cut down on your exposure. That’s it! Now reward yourself with a chocolate bunny and keep ignoring the dishes in your sink.