Your McAfee Total Protection subscription also gets you premium access to the True Key password manager. In fact, you get five licenses for True Key, so five individuals in your household can each have their own personal password manager. And each of those users can install True Key on all their Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS devices simply by installing from the app store and then activating with the code you give them.
Create Your Account
You’ll find a Password Manager menu item in the My Protection menu’s Privacy section. But that doesn’t mean this component lives within the suite. When you click that panel, it sends you to the web to initialize and configure True Key.
As part of the setup process, you create a master password of at least eight characters. True Key rates your password as you type, but it’s very lax. It rated “passwor” as Weak and “password” as Very Weak, but said “pass word” with a space was Acceptable. Yes, as you’ll see below, you can configure True Key so it doesn’t even require a master password for authentication, but you should still protect your credentials using a strong master password, something that you can remember but that nobody would guess.
Get Our Best Stories!
All the Latest Tech, Tested by Our Experts
Thanks for signing up!
Your subscription has been confirmed. Keep an eye on your inbox!
Simple Tricks to Remember Insanely Secure Passwords
On Windows or macOS, True Key installs as a browser extension for Chrome, Edge, Firefox, or Safari. Just like the PassWatch component in UltraAV, there’s no separate True Key app on these desktop platforms.
True Key installs as an app on iOS, with its own internal browser. It can fill passwords in other browsers if you enable it as an AutoFill provider. On Android, True Key also installs as an app with an internal browser. It directly supports Chrome, Opera, and several other Android browsers. Once you enable True Key’s Instant Log In, it can also log in to most Android apps.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
True Key works hard to ease you into password management. It starts by displaying a list of over two dozen popular websites and encouraging you to add one as a login. When you click an item, it opens that page in the browser, explaining that all you need to do is log in as usual. It also walks you through the process of clicking a saved item to automatically revisit the site and log in.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
You can speed up the setup process by importing data from another password manager, but the choices are very limited. The import process supports LastPass, Dashlane, and True Key itself, as well as importing from Chrome or Edge. An option titled Other Browsers directs you to export existing passwords to a CSV file and import them into True Key. Typically, the way to make this work is to export a CSV file and duplicate its format. In this case, I simply couldn’t achieve a successful import, not even when exporting existing entries and importing them right back in.
Basic Password Management
True Key does all the basic password management tasks you’d expect. When you log in to a website, it slides in a banner offering to save your credentials. If you revisit a site whose credentials True Key already holds, it fills them in automatically. When more than one set of credentials is available, it pops up a menu so you can choose.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
If True Key notices that you’re creating a new account, it offers to generate a secure password. You can also invoke the password generator at any time by clicking its button above the list of accounts.
By default, True Key creates 16-character passwords using small letters, capital letters, numbers, and special characters. You can set the length to any even number from 8 to 30. Since you don’t have to remember these passwords, consider making them 20 characters or even longer.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
In testing, True Key captured all the logins I tried, including two-step ones like Google and Yahoo. Once I got a few dozen passwords in place, I found the main list a bit unwieldy. By default, it’s sorted alphabetically, though you can sort by most used or recently used. If you save a lot of logins, you’ll find the search box handy.
There aren’t a lot of settings to worry about, but there’s one every user should update. True Key logs you out after a period of inactivity, but unlike most competitors, the default for this period is a full week! We strongly recommend setting it to no more than 30 minutes. This is a per-device setting, not global to your account, which makes sense—you might want a different timeout on your smartphone than on your PC.
Secure Notes and Personal Wallet Data
You can save any number of free-form color-coded secure notes and access them from any device. This can be handy for things like locker combinations and other real-world secrets.
Clicking Wallet lets you add personal data in six categories: Address Book, Credit Card, Driver’s License, Memberships, Passport, and Social Security Number. You can color-code these entries if that helps you keep them organized. Note that when you store a credit card in Dashlane, you not only get to pick the color to match the physical card, but you can also apply the bank’s branding.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
Most password managers that store personal data use it to help you fill out web forms. RoboForm rules this group—it started life as a form-filling tool and evolved into password management. True Key doesn’t offer form-filling aid, although you can copy data and paste it into those forms. As with secure notes, the personal items you enter become available on all your devices.
Multi-Factor Authentication
True Key’s biggest strength lies in its ability to use multiple factors for authentication. Right from the start, it requires both the master password and a trusted device. Any attempt to log in from a device that’s not yet trusted requires additional authentication. In testing, it used various techniques, including verification email and swiping a notification on an existing trusted device.
What Is Two-Factor Authentication?
You can add other factors in settings. Your trusted email account is automatically available for verification, and your master password is active by default. You can also require authentication using a second device, typically a mobile device. The second device receives a request for authentication, and you simply respond by swiping. If your PC supports Windows Hello, you can use it as an authentication factor.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)
In the distant past, True Key used to support biometric authentication factors, but not anymore. In addition, contrary to its seeming emphasis on multiple factors, it doesn’t work with common choices like registering an authenticator app or receiving codes through SMS. Nor does it support authentication using a hardware security key.
Password Recovery Options
True Key initially requires a master password, but you can choose to rely on a combination of other factors instead. Even if you do, the master password remains available as a fallback.
Password managers that rely on a master password usually offer a warning that if you forget that password, they can’t help you. (That also means they can’t be compelled to unlock your account for the NSA, which is a plus.) McAfee can’t unlock your account or tell you the master password you forgot, but if you’ve defined other factors, True Key lets you authenticate with those and thereby reset the master.
You’re not likely to lose a desktop computer, but it’s awfully easy to misplace a laptop or mobile device. If someone else gets hold of your device, you can remotely remove it from the trusted list.
Just the Password Management Basics
True Key is easy to set up and easy to use, and it comes with your Total Protection subscription, but it lacks advanced features. There’s no audit for weak passwords like you get with Dashlane, Keeper Password Manager, and others. The best password managers, NordPass and Proton Pass among them, provide secure sharing, along with a digital legacy to give your heirs access. True Key lacks even the simple ability to fill web forms. You may be better off choosing from the best free password managers instead.
Source link Read More