A good reminder about passwords is important from time to time:
1) Passwords should be six characters or longer.
2) Incorporate random capital letters, swaps letters for numbers (like vanity license plates) and includes a symbol or two. The password “password” (which you should not use) is much stronger as “r1Va’5paZZw8rD.”
3) Don’t use names of pets, children or streets. It’s better to use a phrase, song lyric or line from a poem as the base. “Hey Jude, don’t make it bad” could become “d9n’Tmak%6aad.” Base the password on the first letter of each word, turning the lyric into “HJ,dmi6.”
For more, read Microsoft’s advice.
For those of you with Macs, get 1password, it is a program that saves all your passwords and backs them up. That way, you will never forget a password.
To make things easier, use the same username for everything.
And the security wonks aren’t going to like the next thing I’m going to say: Here’s the main thing. If what you are doing isn’t about money, use the same password for everything. It’s not worth trying to remember.
But with 1password you don’t have to. I use an independently generated 26 alfa-numeric password for everything. 1password is a beautiful thing.
Mark