Are Your Passwords Secure?

When it comes to using Passwords, whether to log onto your PC or log into your email, you should take care to make your Password tough to crack.    Unfortunately coming up with complicated passwords that we remember can be difficult.  The easiest solution that I have found is to pick something very strange, it can be an object, book, character, radiator, milk jug, or anything, the more obscure the better.   Once you pick that, then add a couple of numbers that you know you won't forget and you should have a pretty tough password for someone to guess.   For example, if your password was   trashbag324.   Now mostly likely that name may strike a laugh with you which will help you remember it and who in their right mind would come up with a password like that.   Unless you are in the Waste Removal Industry this is not likely to be too many people's password.    The key is to remember it and make it stick.

If you work at a company that requires you to change your Password every few months, you can usually just pick another obscure word or phrase and add a few numbers to it.     filecabinet985 would be tough to guess.

Your Amazon.com password, your email password, your bank password are some of the many passwords we have to use and remember.    While it is very easy to use the same password for them all, it is quite risky.   A good solution is to make up about 3 passwords that you will remember, and assign them to different areas.   Maybe you have one for your banking and Amazon account.  Then another for your email, and Facebook.   If you do this you will have the  Security of tough passwords and only need to remember 3 Passwords as opposed to 10 different ones.   Simple but still Secure.    Having a password is recommended even if you are a single user and live alone.   If your PC was stolen or you would not want to have your PC or private Docs, pictures compromised.    Now I am realistic enough to know that most people who have one computer at home for themselves may not use a password.   It is an inconvenience but for security purposes it is the right thing to do.   If you have no password, and are having friends or your romantic partner, what is stop someone from going on your PC to see what is there?

If for any reason you suspect your password has been compromised, you should change it immediately.    If your machine contracts a virus or other malicious software, your passwords could be at risk.  While the chances are slim, it all depends on how infected your PC and what type of infection you have.   There are key-loggers and password-stealing programs out there.   This is one of the most important reasons to keep your Security Software up to date to give your machine the maximum protection.    Having a tough password on your home PC and Office PC is a good habit to practice.   We cannot avoid the future or more and more things being done online and needing passwords, so protect yourself as best you can while still being able to remember them.   The more characters and numbers the tougher it will be.   Just don' t make them so tough that you can't remember them.    If your password makes your laugh, you will be far more likely to remember it.        As a final example:     horsehockey742

Thanks for reading and have a great rest of the week.

Steve

www.zolexpc.com