How do you manage passwords?

[rainbowsandcloudyskies]

Please give me tips on how to stay organised with passwords!

I am in a complete pickle and have to keep re-setting them. Am I the only one this problem? It is driving me mad!

Do you all have some secret, sneaky trick that you can share with me? Please…

Clearing the cache shouldn't remove them, perhaps clear the autofil data for a few forms etc but the passwords should be part of the data that is synced to the cloud, and will survive a simple wipe of the app data (so long as you sign into chrome again).

I use the same password for less important things where no money changes hands. Totally unique ones for email, PayPal, Amazon etc
And I have them on a piece of paper I keep under the lining of my laundry basket 😂

I have a really good password for my email apart from that I reset my password every time I need to log into something!

Most stuff stays logged in anyway so it doesn't come up as often as you might think. One day I had to reset a password because I couldn't remember it and had an epiphany that doing that was much easier than trying to remember!

Mine are in an alphabetical book. Not the exact password but a clue.
I use a rough formula

Initial of the website
Title of a book from a list - say Pride and Prejudice
@
A year

So for mumsnet it might be MNPaP@1985 I would write
MNBook2@year

Sounds hugely complicated but it works for me.

I have a system which is a combination of 1st 4 letters of the website/ company, a specific set of non sequential 5 numbers and a character- which are always the same.
My numbers are (hypothetically) 02364, and the character I always use is % (again, an example)

Mumsnet would be Mu02364Ms%
Barclays would be Ba02364Rc%

Use the same order placement for the characters, letters and numbers for every new password

I use a little notebook that isn't stored near my laptop.

After several failures and lost accounts, my two daughters are doing the same (when they remember). There are too many diffent things to remember nowadays.

I use the apple keychain, and let it suggest and populate the passwords.

I only need to remember the password for the Apple ID and the associated email address.

I write them down on a bit of paper, and hidden in a notebook 😳

i also use a small notebook that’s very easy to hide.

I use one of three passwords for everything and they are really obvious if you know me. Anything more complicated and I lock myself out. Hackers use technology to get in it they want to and it doesn't matter if it's cryptic or your date of birth. I've never been hacked and I'm old.

Separate notes on an app, so one list does not contain all passwords. And I don't write down the password itself, but a hint for it.

This is a password system that might work for you, where you would not even need to write down a key:

A numbered list of names significant to you, eg family members.
Another lettered list of easily remembered things that are not names, eg rooms in your house.

So your key might be
Karen 1, David 2, Judy 3, Alfie, 4
loo a, kichen b, study c, living d

Then hint b2 would give password kitchenDavid. And so on.

I think 8 words gives you 64 word pairs, and even more options if you use 3-word passwords.

There's a setting you need to uncheck, 'passwords and other sign in data'... I have to regularly clear my cache to allow some software i use to work correctly.
If you just blanket clear cache, the passwords are wiped. Which i learned to my cost

They build up again but I don't rely on it any more.

Managing passwords can be a real headache, but you're definitely not alone in this struggle! One helpful trick is to use a password manager. These tools securely store all your passwords in one place, so you don't have to remember them all.
I'd also suggest usign a password generator. They can also generate strong, unique passwords for each of your accounts, which helps keep your accounts safe from hackers.
Another tip is to use passphrases instead of passwords. Passphrases are longer and easier to remember than complex passwords, but they're just as secure.

Think where you are and what you are doing. Passwords can always be cracked so try this:

WihoMN2n?

Which is the first letter of

What is happening on Mums Net to night?

Iw2sm£imba

I want to see my money in my *bank name account.

By using the first characters of the word in a sentence every "password" would be different.

Me. 30 years experience in IT. by the way

MumsnetPW?

If a hacker sees you have a pattern then you're not secure.

You should use combinations of WORDS (not letters) to make your password both long and memorable. Long is very important because computers are getting so fast that any 8-10 character password can be cracked in minutes.

See this excellent cartoon

https://xkcd.com/936/

and if you search for 'xkcd password generator' you can find a useful site that generates passwords according to the XKCD rule.

I have a couple of secure memorised passwords via that rule and all the others are stored on 1Password which is a good password manager that integrates with Chrome and iphone etc. I used to use LastPass but dropped it after the big hack.

I also use 2 factor authentication on anything that needs real security (money etc).

All these things are a bit of a fiddle to set up but once you have it in place, life is so much easier.