Do you recall the glory days? Back before the Internet, back when Windows lacked a password box at logon? Perhaps you don’t. Like the stone age, those days are gone for good; passwords are here to stay. Not only that, you probably need to use a password at least a dozen times during your computer day.
I’ve written before on using strong passwords, but that’s only half the battle. The other half is remembering where to use the passwords.
The security experts will tell you that you should use a different, unique password every time. That means one password for logging into the computer, another for e-mail, one for each web page, and on and on. That’s a lot of passwords, especially for my wee brain.
Many web browsers, as well as your computer’s operating system, may offer a form of password vault, often called a password keychain. It automatically summons your passwords for you without your having to type them in every time. That feature is handy, but it encourages slop. For example, what happens when computers, as they often do, screw up and all your passwords are suddenly forgotten?
The solution is to do what I do and that’s write your passwords down.
I keep the passwords in a computer file, but I also write them down using the traditional pen. The passwords are not written on sticky-notes and applied to my monitor. Instead, they find themselves in books around my desk. There they sit innocently, in the margins or on the “Notes” pages, looking like nothing more than my typical scrawl to the casual observer. To me, however, they are my lifeline should anything ever happen and the computer lose its mind — and my passwords.
To keep your sanity, which is probably wearing thin anyway (seeing how you use a computer), I recommend jotting down your passwords in a hand yet inconspicuous place: an address book, a recipe file, in the back of PCs For Dummies.. Keep a list of all the sites you visit and the passwords you use for each, along with your logon name (if it’s different all over). That should help you in times of digital woe.
Think about it: You’re using an old fashioned technique to save your high tech butt! Sometimes nothing is better or more reliable than the old pencil and paper.
I used to have one password for everything. When my job became computerised, I chose a different password so that the system administrator did not have access to the password I use on, for example, EBay. Since then my need for unique passwords has gotten out of hand.
I have been advised by several “experts” (I use that term loosely) that passwords should never be written down, for “security reasons”, but I simply cannot remember all those passwords. The pencil-and-paper method is definitely what works for me.
Comment by sean bernard — January 26, 2009 @ 5:41 pm
I’m with you, Sean. I think it’s best to write the passwords down in a non-obvious way “just in case.” It’s worse to forget a password than to run the risk that someone leafing through your day book will think it’s riddled with passwords.
Comment by admin — January 26, 2009 @ 8:46 pm