Lots of friends have been around me while making new accounts somewhere on the internet and always get stuck on making a new password. And even worse, they forget it or forget the password to other sites! Other issues are user names but that’s a different story for another day.
I have always used the same 3 passwords for as long as I can remember. I have a small password, a medium password and a large password all somewhat based on this little article I’m about to show you. Why can’t everyone use this system or something like it? Or just have one nice long password? Why do you have to make so many different passwords for every site?
I recently noticed these password strength generators on many different websites. I think they’re the reason people make so many different passwords. So to help you out I’m posting a FAQ article on How To Make A Strong Password that I came across today. I thought it might help so many people out there. I found it on GoDaddy.com
Creating a Strong Password
A password is your first and last line of defense in computer security. Typically people choose bad passwords because they are easy to remember. However, you wouldn’t leave the door to your home unlocked because it is too much of a hassle to unlock it before you open the door, would you? A weak password is the same thing.
Using words that appear in a dictionary, in any language, make cracking your password that much easier. Adding numbers to dictionary words doesn’t increase the password’s strength at all if it is based on a dictionary word. Even with character replacements like capital letters and non-alphanumeric symbols, you’re not getting a stronger password.
A true strong password should consist of 7 or more characters and be part of a “passphrase”. A passphrase consists of a phrase that has special meaning to you, therefore making it easier to remember. For example:
Mickey Mouse for President. It would be awesome!
One simple approach to create a better password is to take the first letter of each word in your passphrase, giving you:
mmfpiwba
That looks seemingly random, and it’s a fairly hard password to crack. But why not make it harder by using the punctuation from the sentence?
mmfp.iwba!
Now that is a much harder password to crack. Why stop there, though? Let’s make it even stronger by capitalizing some letters and adding numbers.
MM4P.Iwba!
Now you have truly difficult password to crack; but is still fairly easy to remember. To make it even stronger, you can salt it with non-alphanumeric character replacements for greater difficulty. For example, replacing an “a” with a “@” leaving you with:
MM4P.Iwb@!
Do’s and Do Not’s of Password Security:
Do:
-Combine letters, symbols, and numbers that are easy for you to remember and hard for someone else to guess.-Create pronounceable passwords (even if they are not words) that are easier to remember, reducing the temptation to write down your password.-Try using the initial letters of a phrase you love, especially if a number or special character is included.-Take two familiar things, and then wrap them around a number or special character. —Alternatively, change the spelling to include a special character.
Do not:
-Use personal information such as derivatives of your user ID, names of family members, maiden names, cars, license plates, telephone numbers, pets, birthdays, social security numbers, addresses, or hobbies.-Use any word in any language spelled forward or backward.-Tie passwords to the month. For example, don’t use “Mayday” in May.-Create new passwords that are substantially similar to ones you’ve previously used.
THE END
And that’s it! Now I hope you guys don’t use “MM4P.Iwb@!” as your password. I suggest you change all the passwords you have on the internet into one nice strong password. And I hope you don’t ever forget your password again because that $#*t is annyoing!