4.)
BIZ*TECH SAVVY SOLUTIONS
_____________________
Secure and
Manage Your Passwords
by Syd Tash
Most everyone who
surfs the Net eventually signs up for Web mail and a bunch of other
services and programs. That means, of course, a legion of login names
and passwords to remember. Coming up with good and secure passwords is
a bit of a job that we have discussed before. Remembering them and
keeping them safe can be a job and a half!
Let us review
what a secure password actually is. It should be six to ten
characters in length, including a mix of upper and lower case,
punctuation and numbers, if permitted. Here is an example: Pa9!*x5.
I avoid zero and one, and the letters o and l and I, to prevent
confusion. Do not use your name, phone number, dog’s name, favorite
restaurant, nearby landmark, or in fact any recognizable word. Some
people use PassWOrd (or the like) as their password. Bad idea.
Of course, the
harder your password is to guess, the harder it is to remember, and
the more likely you are to find yourself tearing your hair out. So,
first of all, let’s go to a site that will generate a set of three
random passwords for us. Go here -
https://www.grc.com/passwords.htm. You will get a 64 character
string suitable for use as a key or passphrase in your wireless
router, as well as two 63-character passwords. Take a 6 – 10
character portion of the second or third examples to create a strong
password.
Next, go to
RoboForm at: http://www.roboform.com/ to find a great password
manager. Download and install the free version, which should be
sufficient for most users, at least at first. Now when you go to one
of your password-protected sites, RoboForm will ask you if you want to
save your login info as a Passcard. Say Yes. The next time you go to
that site, RoboForm will autofill the login fields for you. So you
only have to remember one master password, to launch RoboForm. Make
it a good strong one, and keep it hidden and safe.
Obviously, if
someone gets this master password, they will have access to your, errr,
… everything. So never leave your PC unattended while RoboForm is
running.
RoboForm
has many other features you can play with. There is a password
generator and a secure area for important notes and information.
RoboForm2Go can be installed on a memory stick or USB drive, which is
great when using public or shared computers. When the USB drive is
removed, no trace of RoboForm should remain on the computer. You can
even set up one-click procedures to launch your browser, go to a
particular login page, fill the ID and password fields and log in.
Now that’s my idea of helpful technology.
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Syd Tash is a noted computer security
consultant and author of
How to Protect Your Computer Online. He has been keeping
Internet surfers safe and secure since the last century. Find out
how he does it; protect your own computer with five layers of
protection right here: =>
http://mypcsecuritysite.com
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