The Chronicles
May 2008
Salutations dear readers and fellow Laurentian neighbors,
Let me start my article by asking you yet another question ... what does EVERY computer user in the world need to possess (apart from patience and an anti-virus)? If your answer is a password then, ding-ding-ding, you are right! And if you are like I used to be or like some of my clients (or should I say students) you too have a hard time coming up with a clever, easy yet safe password. That's what I'm going to help you with this month.
Before beginning however I would like to share with you a list I came across of the 10 most commonly used passwords by computer users today:
10) your first name
9) link182
8) password1
7) myspace1
6) monkey
5) letmein
4) abc123
3) qwerty
2) 123456
and the number one password is ... password!!!
I'm guessing that you've understood that if your password is on this list or resembles one of these, then you are at great risk as hackers (be it a person or a computer programme) can guess these passwords in a matter of seconds.
So how can one come up with a password that is cunning, straightforward and secure?
The first step is to decide on a WORD that has a meaning for you. Remember, once you'll have chosen your password you will use it EVERYWHERE. It is easier to have one excellent password and to use it every time you need to supply a password in order to use your computer than to have many different passwords as you'll more than likely not remember which one goes where. This being the case, usually a minimum of 8 characters is required and preferably with a mixture of letters and numbers, which brings me to my second point.
Change some of the letters in the word for numbers for example:
0 = a or o
1 = i or l
3 = e or m or w
4 = h
5 = z
6 = p
7 = f
9 = g or q
Let's take a look ... word = anniversary ... password = 0nn1v3rs0ry.
Ta-daaaaa there you have it! So get those neurons working to come up with your new password. However, if you have absolutely no inspiration you can always go to this Web site for some help: http://www.passwordbird.com/
Bye for now and look after yourselves!
questions.monamilordi@gmail.com
This article originally appeared in Main Street – The Laurentians' English Language Community Newspaper.
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