If you have more than one set of credentials, you can choose which one to fill. When you revisit a site for which you've saved credentials, most password managers can automatically (or with a click or two) fill the saved data. Others actively analyze popular secure sites whose login pages don't fit the norm, creating scripts to handle each site's oddball login process. Some products cleverly solve this problem by letting you manually capture all data fields on a page. Of course, password capture only works if the password manager recognizes that you're logging in to a secure site, so non-standard login pages can cause trouble.
The best password managers capture your credentials during account creation when you change your password online, they offer to update the stored password for that site. Allowing access only from registered, trusted devices is yet another form of multi-factor authentication.
Some password managers rely on mobile authenticator apps others use SMS-based methods or hardware security keys to authenticate. Multi-factor authentication could be biometric, requiring a fingerprint, facial recognition, or even voice recognition. Setting up multi-factor authentication is another way to mitigate the risk of possible attacks. Store your master password in a secure place or risk permanently losing access to your password manager. On the flip side, it is unlikely that you can recover it.
This password is used to encrypt the contents of your password vault, so it needs to be as strong as possible. That's where your master password comes in. However, when you put all of your passwords into one repository, you'd better be extremely careful to protect that repository. Since 1982, PCMag has tested and rated thousands of products to help you make better buying decisions. ( Read our editorial mission.)