I’m so happy I put my e-mail address in my books. That’s because the feedback I get from readers is valuable, and it offers me an insight into how people think about using computers in ways I can’t imagine.
Recently I got a question from a reader. He was concerned about his PC’s security, specifically his e-mail account. That’s because a web page he visited asked him to use his e-mail address to sign-in. Such a procedure is normal; using your e-mail address a login ID assures that the login ID will be unique. It also allows the web page owner to collect e-mail addresses for whatever nefarious purpose, but that’s not my point here.
In addition to the e-mail address, the web page wanted a password. My reader assumed — and this is the part I wouldn’t think of myself — that the web page was asking for his e-mail account password. Yes, such an assumption might seem silly to an experienced computer user. Many of my readers are not, however, experienced computer users.
The answer is “no,” of course: the web page was not asking for the password to the e-mail account provided. It was instead asking for a unique password for the site. I explained that to the reader, who was understandably grateful.
As a security tip, you should never use your e-mail account password for any other account password. Security experts who incessantly wag their fingers at mankind insist that all your passwords be unique. In practice, however, that would be insane as most of us would probably have to mentally manage dozens if not hundreds of individual passwords. A mess.
Perhaps the situation could be made more lucid if those web pages asked for account items separately? Say the first screen asks for your e-mail address to use as your login ID. Then another screen prompts to ask you to create a unique password for the web site. Further, it could say, “Don’t use your e-mail account password.”
Yeah, that might be a little bulky and obnoxious for most users, but only when you understand the frustration of a beginner do you see that we have a long way still to go in making computers useful and friendly for everyone.
