how are we supposed to remember all these passwords and code words

Yes, Witzend, I have to confess, that despite my system, I generally use the same one again and again. It has the advantage of being considered 'strong' by password assessment systems and is easy to remember.

Mine are all saved on google keychain.

Following a tip from a friend I use various combinations of my - NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN Mother's Co-op number (only known now to myself and sister) with a couple of letters which indicate to me alone which password it is.

Have a password manager. All the usual web browsers have one built in, and they can generate a secure password that you never really need to know although you can look at them and change them.

Alternatively, although not every application will accept it, build a password from three unrelated words strung together to make a long password – 18 characters and upwards – which is easy to remember but much more secure than any 8-character password however many digits and special characters it contains, even if it's all lower-case letters. I started using passwords like that when I had a cat who insisted on occupying my left arm whenever I sat at the computer, so I could enter them with one free hand.

Grandma70s

I write them down. The chance of someone bothering to go through all my notebooks to find them is very remote.

I do the same, but DH knows where they are. I have different passwords for different things by taking two random words, adding a number and a symbol and making one letter a capital.

If you're asked for a phone number, Witzend, I heard that using 01234567890 would work without accidentally giving a stranger's number, and it usually does.

Car number plates - with make/colour etc are good for passwords as they contain numbers. I never use my own/current car details though!

I use 0333 88888888 as my phone number. If rung the caller gets a message that you don't want cold calls.

As for passwords I have a basic password that gets a twist every time. Using the website initials is a great idea.

I change my card PINs so they are the same.

I use a password manager. I never use the same password twice and the password manager can fill in password information online as I need it. I am able to give secure access to my password manager to chosen family members. There is no possibility of misreading a password on a password manager (hand written ones can be misread), it is copied and pasted. I don't even see it on screen unless I make it visible (no screen grab possible either this way).

My password manager is also available to all my devices.

I think many on this thread are taking unnecessary risks with their security. I don't think you realise that passwords are harvested and cracked in large numbers from the servers they are stored in and sold on. You aren't being targeted but you can still be hacked - this is made easier if your passwords are simple and use variations of the same words/numbers.

I use two passwords for everything. Life is too short for making up codes to access my pets at home account or whatever.

I have posted this before - I make no apology for doing this again:-

I don't think many realise that, in a way, a lot of this [hacking your account] is not personal. It's not about your account, about you being targeted.

Every minute of every day, millions of digital probes get sent out over the Internet by powerful machines/computers to test the possibility of accessing data held on servers run by organisations that provide services we need. Not all the probes are malevolent, some are used by companies to test their digital resilience. However, they are all looking for weaknesses, a way into people's personal data.

Sometimes the criminals will get lucky, they will manage to harvest data held on a poorly managed server.

Your password is not just used to allow you to access your data, it is used to encrypt your data when they are stored too. The the more complicated your passwords, the harder your data are to read. Criminals may not bother to decrypt your data but just sell harvested data in bulk on the dark Web. They have already made money from possessing information about you.

At this stage, more automatic programs will kick in. If machines can decrypt the data, they will and they will use it. They will automatically collate data comparing it using huge data bases. They won't know that someone only has a paltry amount in an account, they don't care. A few taps on a keyboard and many are targeted at once.The victims have to deal with getting new cards, the loss of confidence, empty accounts, responsibility for spamming emails, changing passwords is the least of the problem.

I know how annoying passwords are but also how difficult the use of other means of identification are too. For the time being, I think we are stuck with them.

I use a name with a telephone number.
The name has a clue telling me which account, I know which letters of the name and which consecutive numbers in the telephone number make up the password.

I can remember most of mine. But, because OH’s memory is poor, I have typed them all up and the piece of paper is locked in his gun cabinet which has to be locked by law!

I have a password book , easy. Nobody is going to bother breaking into my house, going through my shelves, finding an old address book, looking up my passwords, and then breaking into my PC to use them .

If anyone wants to go to all that trouble to break into my bank account, it won't net them much reward !

My pin number is remembered by the pattern it makes on a keypad - the diagonals and straights - not the number itself. I'm good at remembering shapes. Some passwords are written in my phone book - disguised as a name and number. Others, I just have to keep changing, using the 'forgotten password?' feature, but never mind, I manage!

Missedout which password manager would you recommend please?

I use last last pass password manager which needs a master password to access it.

If you have apple products they just suggest their own strong passwords which they remember and share between your devices, which have face or fingerprint recognition.

I write them down too. Like others have said, someone would need to break into my house and rifle through all my books to find them.

I pay for my password manager, I use Dashlane but there are many available. I have used the same password manager for at least 20 years - it has kept up with the technology. It generates passwords for me and tells me how strong the password is too. It advises me when I need to update older ones which are not so secure. I use Dashlane on my Android phone, my iPad, my Windows laptop too. It also provides a Virtual Private Network too for additional security if I am using public WiFi.

Vegansrock. what you say is interesting. I have an iPad, but never remember it suggesting a password. How does that work please.

The chances of a break-in into someone's house to search out passwords to make money are infinitely small compared to the profitability of a crime syndicate routinely copying all the data off poorly set up servers on which data are stored. A few passes of the captured data through powerful computers will make most of the stored information readable unless it is encrypted by complex passwords.

I'm overwhelmed with this thread

I write my PIN numbers down in code. It takes a while to work it out and I really need a pencil and paper before I can do it. It drives me mad. I've just ordered a little password notebook from Amazon (there's a lovely black one with a bee on the front, £8) but I suppose I'll still need to use the code for my PIN numbers. Life is so complicated now. Grrr.

Ladyleftfieldlover

I can remember most of mine. But, because OH’s memory is poor, I have typed them all up and the piece of paper is locked in his gun cabinet which has to be locked by law!

Good idea, the downside is that I don’t know where DH keeps his key so if I misplace my book with all my passwords in it then I can’t access his copy unless he’s around!

I write them down in a phone book. Really important PIN numbers are disguised as phone numbers. Others are disguised within bogus sites. The rest are just written in as normal reminders. When I am regularly asked if I want to save numbers I decline because I am distrusting old bat.