We hear frequent complaints about the number of passwords required to get by in today’s world. Most of us have had an ATM pin for years, but now we have passwords for bank accounts, e-mail, databases, newspapers, Facebook, LinkedIn…you get the picture. Increasingly we find ourselves resorting to clicking the “Forgot my password” link, a time consuming process that can get quite annoying when used on a regular basis. Especially when a site won’t let you re-use any previously used passwords and you spend 10 minutes coming up with something you never used before, and that you have a even a slight chance of remembering next time.
What are some of your options for making this easier? Here are a few of the most common ones we thought of:
Write them down – Who hasn’t gone to use a friend or co-worker’s computer and found a Post It note “hidden” under the keyboard containing all their user names and passwords? Pretty much a breech of security protocol for most companies, but unfortunately it’s often necessary. This is also not a good idea for personal information, such as bank accounts. You never know who’s going to use your computer area; storing critical information in this way exposes you to a lot of risk.
Have your browser remember your passwords – While this is certainly useful, you still can’t guarantee who uses your computer. By simply having each site remember your user name and password, you’re giving anyone who uses your computer access to EVERYTHING. You’re also in trouble if you clear your cache—you won’t be recognized next time you go back to that secure site—or if you use another computer and can’t remember any of your passwords.
Use password management software – There are several packages on the market, available at a wide variety of prices. We found a good comparison of products at the site Top 10 Reviews. Investing in something like this could be worthwhile to better secure all of your business and personal information.
We’d like to see what other people do to manage the overwhelming number of user names and passwords they need to get by every day. Post a comment and share your ideas with our readers.
Tags: passwords, security, SOFTEACH, software, software training, training
For my work passwords I use the lyrics of a song. I use the words of a line using the first letter of each sprinkling in a capital, a number, and a special character. This typically meets the security requirements and I haven’t had any problem with duplicates and as long as I can remember which line of the song I’m on, I can come up with the password. I also change about a dozen passwords at the same time to this new password so that I only have to remember one new one every 8 weeks.
Hi Elizabeth,
Great post! I can relate as I ALWAYS forget the passwords that I only use a few times a year. I appreciate the info on password management software and will check it out.
The best password keeper that I have found: Callpod Keeper, which I have on my Mac and iPhone.
I find that if I use a series of keys on the keyboard the ‘location’ of the keys is easier to remember than any made up password. For instance, use the 1st 8 keys of the top row of alpha characters (qwertyui) or use the 1st 4 characters of the top row twice each, but make the 2nd time caps (qwerQWER).
I get much more complicated than that of course: my bank password is 20 key strokes but I know ‘where’ they are on the keyboard and how to start with the 1st one. I don’t look at the character I am typing, rather where the key is on the keyboard. I find remembering the ‘geography’ of where the keyasare on the keyboard is easier to remember than characters.
I use other memory aides also. My company requires a password change every 90 days. I make sure I start with the numbers 1 thru 4, for which quarter I changed the password. There are about 4 places in the company that a different password change is needed: when the 90 days comes up on the one I use most I set aside time and change all 4 to the same password.
One further option is to save your passwords in a password protected Excel spreadsheet. I know, that means another password, but only one that has to be remembered. Also, it is useful if you don’t want to use your browser to automatically remember passwords (ie. the issue of someone else using your computer).
One further note, I had my identity stolen once because someone placed a cookie in my computer that allowed them to read my keystrokes. Thus it is never a good idea to manually input passwords. Having your browser remember them would solve this, but by putting your web address, login and password in an Excel file, you need only to click on the web address in Excel (it is a live link), it will open your browser and log on to the web page. Then copy and paste the login and password, thus no manual entry is needed.
I usually use one email service accessible anywhere there is an internet connection, and I make the password on this one account very strong and change it frequently.
From that account, I email myself my hard to remember passwords in an email. But in the email, instead of spelling out the password, I give myself a personal hint only I would be able to make sense of. I file them all in the same folder and whenever I forget, I just look for the most recent email with that account name that I’ve forgotten the password in the title of the email.