Passwords

can't help you but know how you feel. so annoying.

Every site seems to require a password and DH says I should never use the same one. My head is exploding!

I choose totally random passwords. It may be something I'm watching on TV, a bird that happens to fly by, a car, a selection of random words....anything that doesn't relate directly to me so can't be worked out. The trick is to work out a way of remembering them and I can't tell you that or it will be obvious how I do it.

I write all my passwords in a notebook, the chances of someone breaking in stealing my laptop then hunting around the house and reading a notebook are minimal and better than using the same passwords for multiple sites.

Haha Cornishpatsy - I had to resort to that at work (NHS) because I stupidly kept a file with passwords in my online folder then we all got new computers and it was wiped. IT were very cross and told me everyone needs to remember them all and never write them down oh and they all had to be different. There were at least 20 different sites to remember which you had to change monthly! Eventually grumpily he got a software techie to search for it and bless him he did but I then kept a small notebook as it is beyond me to remember passwords to everything!

There is a programme that can generate passwords for you and save them on your computer (maybe this is what ElaineI was using.) Then you only have to remember one password to get into the folder. My SiL is always offering to set one up for me. I think you will need a techy friend to do it for you.
I keep a notebook but I also save passwords for shopping sites and the like on the computer when it gives me the option. Always getting confused though and often have to press the "forgot password?" button. It's very annoying. My son who works in the IT industry says that there are people working on the problem of passwords but haven't come up with any practical solutions yet.

I only use three different passwords and I can actually remember them....?......But I have used them for years

I spent all monday morning trying to remember password,as every time windows is updated a lot of them disappear
I discovered i had 3 ebay accounts as well, because i kept having to change them because i couldn't remember them, or used a guest account
I think the password saver is called Dashlane or something similiar
It is very annoying and time consuming

I use a couple of easily remembered (for me) passwords and so far haven’t been ‘broken into’ or ‘locked out’ - no one will be interested in my paltry bank accounts ?

I subscribe to a password manager (Dashlane was mentioned above). My passwords are saved in the cloud, not on my device and are accessible from any device as long as I know the single, master password. I use the copy/paste function and the browser extension means that some of my passwords (I can chose which ones) are filled in automatically on online sites.
Complex passwords are generated for me and I know how strong they are. I can make additional notes (which security questions are required and how I answered them).

I'm not sure people realise how critical it is to be accurate when hand writing passwords. A space, upper and lower case letters all send different 'signals' (as do 1, l and I) so you have to be absolutely certain that you enter the password as created.

Password managers like Dashlane also allow you to share a password and to pass control to someone you nominate in the event of your incapacitation. It's clever, secure stuff.

Password Managers can be complicated but you can try out the free versions to see how you get on (your data are stored on your device so you can lose them if there is a fault). There are plenty available.

Ooh I might try that. I recently typed a list for my DD of all my online accounts etc in case I fall off the log. But since then one or two have changed so it’s already out of date. Good pointer. Thanks.

For important sites such as banking I use unique passwords. For non essential sites such as Gardeners World and Gransnet I use a bog standard, easy to remember password with a slight variation for each. Let’s be sensible - where is there any risk if someone else uses my Gransnet account?

I've got to the point of being enraged about passwords and can second every post above.

However, I did ask recently in the technical section of Quora why unique passwords matter and got some interesting replies. Apparently reusing the same password on sites where you think it doesn't matter lays you open to fraudsters building up a profile and then being able to steal your identity, defraud you and commit further crimes. I was convinced.

So thanks for the recommendation of password managers I hadn't heard of before, I shall investigate.

I thought changing your password every month was out of fashion as people just add a number on the end of the previous month’s, it is too difficult to remember or create new ones every month

My friend suggested buying an A-Z address book and putting under say Amazon, Bank, Ebay, GN, etc.etc. Obviously remember where you have hidden the book and to revise if you have the need to change your password.

I keep all my passwords on a word document - which is password protected so I only have to remember one. That document is saved on a usb so if my computer crashes I haven't lost anything.

FindingNemo15

My friend suggested buying an A-Z address book and putting under say Amazon, Bank, Ebay, GN, etc.etc. Obviously remember where you have hidden the book and to revise if you have the need to change your password.

That’s a good idea, I recently re-wrote all my passwords in a little notebook in alphabetical order, but if you have to add new ones, can end up out of sync.

Might try the address book one, think I have a spare somewhere.

Calendargirl

FindingNemo15

My friend suggested buying an A-Z address book and putting under say Amazon, Bank, Ebay, GN, etc.etc. Obviously remember where you have hidden the book and to revise if you have the need to change your password.

That’s a good idea, I recently re-wrote all my passwords in a little notebook in alphabetical order, but if you have to add new ones, can end up out of sync.

Might try the address book one, think I have a spare somewhere.

Good plan. Easy. Thanks.

I use my birth surname and my married name in reverse.
I won`t forget them.

Yes, the A-Z book is something my pea brain could cope with.

Years ago when I bought my first laptop a friend told me to make up a completely nonsensical word, but a word that you can actually say.

I use a password manager called Roboform.

You do have to subscribe, it costs in the teens of £s annually, but definitely worth it.

I don't think many realise that, in a way, a lot of this 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. (I'm not including forms of espionage in these comments.)

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.

In a way, using strong passwords is a bit like being vaccinated. If we all make passwords difficult, it is no longer easy for criminals to gain entry to our data and make victims of us.

Missedout

I don't think many realise that, in a way, a lot of this 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. (I'm not including forms of espionage in these comments.)

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.

In a way, using strong passwords is a bit like being vaccinated. If we all make passwords difficult, it is no longer easy for criminals to gain entry to our data and make victims of us.

Wow, thank you for that information. Off to make my online banking password much more complex!!