11-12-2005, 14:28
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#23
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Apprentice Geriatric
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Darwen, Lancashire
Posts: 3,706
Liked: 0 times
Rep Power: 88
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Re: So much to remember....
How many people use an actual word as a password on the Internet, I wonder? My guess is that most people do. Well you are just asking to have it discovered and it can be done with a few seconds if the word is in a standard dictionary as was demonstrated on TV a couple of weeks back.
For all Internet passwords, for your own security you should use random characters – at least 12 or preferably 15 or even 20.
So how are you expected to remember something like QSJ2s4FNwdzPisORvv1m I hear people asking.
You can’t but the solution is simple. Use your word processor or even WordPad or NotePad and create a document that contains the name of the site, your user name and your password. Then all you have to do is copy and paste when accessing a particular site. Save the document to floppy or if you are feeling paranoid save it to TWO floppies. Just remember to update them both as you get new passwords or change your existing ones.
Better still get yourself RoboForm for FREE and let it keep all your passwords securely. Over 8 million users cannot be wrong. I have used RoboForm for some five years now, surf all over the place on a daily basis and NEVER had my passwords compromised. But then who would possibly be able to guess something like B5VrFIJ7aShW0AuRutj8? Even if some enterprising hacker wrote a script to trawl through all the possible combinations (62 to the power of 20 = approx 700,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) it would take years using the IBM’s BlueGene/L at 70.72 teraflops the fastest computer on the planet. Most mortals are not in that league so it would take them hundreds of years. Hardly worth the effort.
The free version is limited to 10 passwords but the pro version for a mere $29.95 (about £17) has unlimited password storage and is the best money you will ever spend on the Internet. I’m not allowed to publish the RoboForm URL but you don’t need a degree to figure it out as a dot come site.
RoboForm doesn’t just remember your passwords but will also fill in forms with whatever details you want it to and includes a password generator for up to 512 characters. Not that you would ever want to use that many.
Windows will often ask you if you want it to remember your user name & password when you input the details for the first time. DECLINE as it is not secure.
Obviously RoboForm is of no use for access codes at work etc. but it will cut down what you have to remember and will allow you to use secure random characters rather than a 4 digits code or real word.
It works for me.
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