QUESTION - 
I am now using http://www.dashlane.com - the free version. You once said to be careful as they take a lot of information without my permission. Do you consider it a dangerous (to me) practice?
If it is a problem, what is the best (for simple home use) password manager. 1Password is much recommended with many features. At $50 for the use of the entire family and all of my devices the price is not too bad.

ANSWER - 
Dashlane is free and is pretty nice. It is the closest competitor to 1Password. It is safe I think. There was a rumor that suggested not to use it to upload your passwords to their system in order to sync.  This may no longer be true, but they were supposedly found to use your personal information to spam and otherwise sell your stuff.  On the other hand, that is what all free and not so free software makers do to make ends meet.

1Password is considered the Cadillac of password managers - https://agilebits.com/onepassword/mac 
My experience was that it takes a while to learn, and some users never manage to really grasp it.

http://www.LastPass.com is also free and really good. I have many customers who love it.

The WSJ “reviewed” password managers with high notes for Dashlane here:
http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303647204579545801399272852

Here is a proponent of 1Password:
http://thesweetsetup.com/apps/best-password-manager-and-why-you-need-one/

Now, I only use these things since people like you ask me about it.  I used 1Password for some time a few years ago when they gave me a free license, and since I am too impatient, I never 100% got my head around it.  

Today I use and have installed Dashlane, and am at times, confused since the helpful password fill dialogs seem to come from the Keychain Access, included in OS X — or maybe it is Dashlane after all? One day I will figure it out.  What I believe I’ve found is that iCloud Keychain and Dashlane are working together. I enabled iCloud’s Keychain and iCloud saves the password as well. 

This is nice because I can still use Dashlane but am now able to have auto login on my iPhones and iPad browsers.
Maybe I should just trust Apple and use only what is build in and only switch on Keychain synching! It has limitations like only Safari, and not all passwords are captured, depending on the web page or application however.

I am not so sure that this helped you, but I tried.
~ Bob • http://www.yotek.com

This past Saturday afternoon and early evening, I missed 3 calls from an unfamiliar phone number, with each call leaving 3 voice mails. However I was at a private project and did not check them until nearly midnight.

It turned out the calls were from a home user client of mine who was using his neighbor’s phone. His voice mails were frantic too…he had been burglarized that afternoon when he ran to Walmart to buy groceries. His cell phone, iMac and many other things had been stolen and he was at a complete loss as to what to do about the iMac, how to recover from this, and needed my help ASAP. I could not call at that late an hour especially given that the only number I could reach him at was his kind neighbor.

It ended up being a short night and we were lucky to get up in time for Sunday activities. When we came out of church, he had called two more times! I finally am able to give him a call shortly after 12. Come to find out, he had not even called the police…due mostly to a very bad experience with the police 20 years ago after a similar burglary. His insurance agent told him he needs to, at a minimum, go down to a police station on Monday and file a report, or a claim can’t be processed.

Just last month, he finally agreed to spend the money to have me update his iMac from 1GB to 4GB of RAM and put in a SSD to help extend the life of his mid-2007, 20” iMac. We talked through things and he admited that he never setup a secure password after I told him that “password” simply doesn’t cut it these days and that no password at all is simply not acceptable either. He is concerned that in a folder on his desktop sits a Word document with all his account numbers, security PINs, passwords, etc. for EVERYTHING of value.

I explained that he needs to reset his email password and his Apple ID password. He asked me, “What is an Apple ID?” <sigh>

He is still panicked, so I told him to give me his DOB and the screenshots of the answers to his security questions that we just setup last month. <whew!>

With the password reset, I double-checked things at iCloud.com to confirm my vague
recollection and YES, I did set things up with iCloud on his iMac, despite the fact he would never understand. I was able to check off the Notify option for when the iMac next connects to the Internet, as well as the command to erase his files, lock the screen, and present a message. The message states that the iMac was stolen on 8/8/2016 and that the user should call the police department. iCloud also had me set a 6-digit unlock PIN in case the iMac is recovered. He was very relieved to hear that I was able to do this. I explained that I am only able to do this because we got him updated to Yosemite (from 10.5). The whole process of getting him to update took months and months, and included comments from him like “I don’t know…my computer needs are very modest…”.

I then stopped by his house to help further calm him down, and I couldn’t believe my eyes…the burglar(s) only stole the iMac, keyboard, and mouse —his back-up hard drive is still sitting on the table! He is ecstatic…nearly in tears. I told him that he should have also gone with an online back-up solution in addition to his onsite back-up, but we got very lucky in this regard.

So this is a real-live example of why clients should heed warnings and keep their systems updated, setup iCloud even if they don’t see the immediate value, use SECURE passwords, use encryption, and have more than one backup with one of those being offsite in some fashion.     

Best regards,
Bob  •  http://www.yotek.com