Sunday, February 11, 2007

More techno ranting

How many passwords have you got?

I'm betting you can't count them all on the fingers of your hands ...

And we're warned not to use the same ones, aren't we?

When I was run over by a Trojan Horse last year, the scumbag harvested all mine and I had to change the lot.

And since then I've got a zillion more (approx figure).

But we're also warned not to write them down. Ever.

So how the hell are we supposed to remember them all?

9 comments:

Confucious Trevaskis said...

The best way is to use things that are easy to remember - like add the dates of your childrens' birthdays together, multiyply by some pie and divide by the hypotenueuse.......or the distance to the sun divided by your house number plus the number of blue cars in your street..............
Alternatively, you could write them dowm and keep them somewhere safe...................

Anonymous said...

There was an article about this in in daily papers last year about how is causes stress for people having to remember passwords. For sites that I have to use words I base them around tv programmes I like, trouble is I don't watch a lot of tv so am beginning to get a bit stressed!!!

The Wandering Author said...

Debi, there are a few encrypted programs out there that will store all your passwords for you, then plug them in as needed. (Well, that part doesn't work most of the time, so you have to manually plug them in.) Some of these programs are even free; I think KeePass is one of the free ones, and I know it works well.

flthyb = apparently, Blogger is infested with very, very dirty bumblebees... :-D

Unknown said...

The written ones are easy, it's the numbers I have difficulty with. I have no storage facility in me brain for them. Same goes for phone numbers and cash dispensers - I have often stood there waiting for divine inspiration which sometimes never comes!
I have to invent ingenius little ways of disguising the information but then have to remember which bag, purse, pocket I left it in!

Debi said...

Saw my dad yesterday. 'What's this number going round my head?' he asked.

It didn't sound like a phone no. I checked his bank a/cs and passport - no result.

'Ah! I remember!' he said. 'It's my RAF number ...'

Unknown said...

By having a great, big, humungous brain. That's how.

Unknown said...

Eh hang on. We're not supposed to use the same password for everything? S@*t, I can't even remember my own phone number. I have to pretend I'm ordering Pizza and then it comes out automatically (in French), if I think about it I'm completely blank.

Debi said...

S@*t? Sounds like a password to me. Now you've gone and told everyone, you'll have to change it. Doh!

Anonymous said...

You can write your passwords down you should just keep them in a very safe (and preferably fireproof :) ) place if you do (and not stick them next to your monitor for example). Probably a good idea to disguise in some way to make extra safe ...