I have not been living a safe cyber life. I have terrible passwords, have never bothered to limit access to my personal info when apps ask, and have never looked into the security or privacy options of Windows 10 and more. I wanna change all that. So far I reset PC; deleting everything off my m.2 drive, beginning fully fresh. I even made a new Microsoft account / outlook email. But now I wanna make sure I go about being secure and protecting my privacy, among other things. This is my plan so far:
Step 1. Buy Bitwarden and use it as a Password Manager. I've learned a decent amount about this, and if I let it generate random complex passwords for everything, I just gotta remember and keep safe copies of the master pass phrase. I will also wanna use 2FA, probably the USB key version.
Step 2. Either use free Webroot from work, or get 75% off of Bitdefender and use that instead. If you think I should do this before Step 1, let me know!
Step 3. Learn about VPNs (because I'm dumb) and acquire one. I'll have to research how they work and which ones are highly rated.
Step 4. Create up to 5 emails in total. Why? I'd like each one to have a specific purpose: One email for financial/credit stuff. Another email for correspondence ONLY with friends and family. A third email for shopping on sites that have your payment method on hand (like Amazon or eBay). A fourth email for all those junk sites that require an email just cause, like Discord, Steam, or whatever. Especially sites that wanna send ads. And the final email would be for work-stuff only.
Step 5. Go through the slow, long process of changing all the passwords of all the accounts I have for apps, sites, etc. Using Bitwarden, I should be able to have it generate the passwords. Also, I'll link each account to it's appropriate new email (e.g. use Bitwarden to change my <Mod Edit> Steam password, then change Steam email to Email #3) I know I have at least 190 accounts, many will need to be changed. But maybe I'm better off deleting many of them and starting fresh?
Step 6. Determine the pros and cons of keeping or deleting my old Google and Microsoft account. For Microsoft, I have it linked to my Xbox One X, and have Game Pass Ultimate free until Feb 2022. If I delete the Microsoft account, what will happen to the Game Pass. Same with Google, will I lose my Youtube account?
That's all for now. I really wanna be smart going forward, and this feels like the right direction. I appreciate anyone who responds to the points.
Step 1. Buy Bitwarden and use it as a Password Manager. I've learned a decent amount about this, and if I let it generate random complex passwords for everything, I just gotta remember and keep safe copies of the master pass phrase. I will also wanna use 2FA, probably the USB key version.
Step 2. Either use free Webroot from work, or get 75% off of Bitdefender and use that instead. If you think I should do this before Step 1, let me know!
Step 3. Learn about VPNs (because I'm dumb) and acquire one. I'll have to research how they work and which ones are highly rated.
Step 4. Create up to 5 emails in total. Why? I'd like each one to have a specific purpose: One email for financial/credit stuff. Another email for correspondence ONLY with friends and family. A third email for shopping on sites that have your payment method on hand (like Amazon or eBay). A fourth email for all those junk sites that require an email just cause, like Discord, Steam, or whatever. Especially sites that wanna send ads. And the final email would be for work-stuff only.
Step 5. Go through the slow, long process of changing all the passwords of all the accounts I have for apps, sites, etc. Using Bitwarden, I should be able to have it generate the passwords. Also, I'll link each account to it's appropriate new email (e.g. use Bitwarden to change my <Mod Edit> Steam password, then change Steam email to Email #3) I know I have at least 190 accounts, many will need to be changed. But maybe I'm better off deleting many of them and starting fresh?
Step 6. Determine the pros and cons of keeping or deleting my old Google and Microsoft account. For Microsoft, I have it linked to my Xbox One X, and have Game Pass Ultimate free until Feb 2022. If I delete the Microsoft account, what will happen to the Game Pass. Same with Google, will I lose my Youtube account?
That's all for now. I really wanna be smart going forward, and this feels like the right direction. I appreciate anyone who responds to the points.
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