I had all but forgotten about LastPass so this weekend I was both startled and annoyed when I received another email reminder from them. It was like getting a missive from a tiresome ex who just won’t take a hint. I am not going to pay you US$35 because while you are awesome, I just cannot afford to do so. It’s not you, it’s me! Why won’t you understand?
The 16 March deadline given by LastPass almost upon us. Starting tomorrow you will have to choose whether you want to use LastPass on your mobile devices or on your computer. Once you make the choice there is no going back. You will have to pay about US$35 if you want to use LastPass on both your phone and computer.
You can choose Bitwarden like I did
As already shared in a previous article, Bitwarden is a capable replacement and the good news is you don’t even have to start from scratch. If you follow my earlier guide you can transfer your data from LastPass to Bitwarden. After you have done that you can install extensions in your browsers and an app on your phone. Then test the service to see if it’s working properly.
Once you are done testing then it’s time to delete your LastPass account. You should only do this once you have thoroughly tested Bitwarden to confirm that your data was imported correctly otherwise you can be in serious trouble. Who knows maybe that ZASH you have in your wallet may be worth something someday, you don’t want to find out that you can no longer access it because you did import a key/password incorrectly now it’s lost forever.
Why you should delete your LastPass Account?
Before I deleted my LastPass account I had been a user for five years. That’s five years of ultra-sensitive data that literary include banking passwords. All my debit card information is there also and although I have taken other serious steps to protect myself including turning on 2-factor authentication wherever it is available, there is still a good chance that if I leave my data in my LastPass web vault someday it may fall in the hands of hackers.
Sure Bitwarden can be hacked too and my data might be pilfered but I am using LastPass while I am not using LastPass. It makes little sense to have two potential high-value targets when you can just have one. Deleting LastPass reduces my risk. My information will only be stolen if one company is breached instead of two.
In any case, in the event that you so choose to go back to LastPass, you can always recreate your account and export your data from Bitwarden. Doing things this way will also solve another problem, you won’t have to continuously update passwords and information in both Bitwarden and Lastpass. Having both accounts can also create confusion when you change a password and the change is only captured by either Bitwarden or LastPass.
How to delete your LastPass account?
Deleting your LastPass account is easy. Just follow the steps below:
- Before you do anything make sure you have exported your data to a new service and it has been imported correctly. Deleting your account is an irreversible action. You will have to create a new empty account if you do decide to come back
- Visit https://lastpass.com/delete_account.php
- Make sure you are logged into your account. The one you want to delete.
- Click on delete
- You will be asked to confirm several times before you are actually allowed to delete. Don’t be scared, keep going.
- Once your account has been deleted LastPass will send you an email to confirm this.
- Now uninstall any LastPass extensions you might have on your computer
- To remove browser extensions, open the relevant browser, visit https://lastpass.com/dl and click on “uninstall”
That’s it, LastPass will be gone from your life. No more pesky emails from them asking you to make a choice.
You need a password manager
Until the age of computers ends, you will still need to use a username and password in order to prove you are who you claim to be. That is not perfect but it works. As long as we use passwords you will need a password manager otherwise you risk reusing your username and passwords. I have about 800 username and passwords that I have to remember for example. No sane person would be able to remember that many passwords.
If you must have a password manager Bitwarden and Keepass are waiting for you.
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