To be struggling so much with passwords

[CameNhange]

I have always used the same password for everything which I know you shouldn’t do but honestly otherwise I don’t know how to stay on top without writing it down.

Mine was a complicated one with letters and numbers but it keeps being rejected for not having an uppercase letter which means I end up with something like Pets name year of birth which isn’t very secure!

How does everyone else manage it?

Check out LastPass

What is that?

Get LastPass or 1Password which is better if you are an exclusive Mac user

I don’t have a Mac at all, never mind an exclusive one!

Password managers. You set one ‘master password’ to log into the manager with. Then use the manager to change all your existing passwords to different new and secure passwords so none are the same any more. All you ever have to remember is the master.

I have a little notebook with all my passwords written down in.
The way I see it, if I get burgled they woulfd be taking my tv and it will be very bad luck on my part if they stole my notebook

I got last pass a few years ago. Life changing. Bit of an upfront time commitment to do all the set up and change all your existing passwords but so so SO worth jt.

A good system is two or three short unrelated words, two digits, a symbol and then capital letters somehow relating to the website the password is for

Eg. SquirrelClockRobot07*mnet

I have mine on a spreadsheet which is password protected itself. That way I only have to remember one main password.

I also have a notebook. Not super secure, but I generate passwords from nearby objects.

Never date of birth!!

I have a main password then a list from 1-100. Each and every time I sign up to a new account I use the next number. So I just have my main password plus number

Eg. Bananas67, Bananas84

First letter of first line of song. Chose a letter to be capitalised. Chuck in some random numbers.
Write down in a notebook you keep in and always return to safe place.

I have mine on a spreadsheet which is password protected itself. That way I only have to remember one main password.

The password protection on spreadsheets is not very secure. There are programs on the web to decipher them.

I use mSecure on my iPad and iPhone. It’s easy and will even generate new passwords. You can copy and paste them as needed on websites.

Yanbu. Notebook here. But only I know what password is for each site.

I do know all my bank log-ins off by heart though, I've never written them down.

Yanbu. Notebook here. But only I know what password is for each site.

I do know all my bank log-ins off by heart though, I've never written them down.

Lastpass. Seriously its teh best things ever.

We had proper postman-stealing-letters identity fraud a couple of years ago. Two of us spent a week on the phone but luckily lost no £

My learnings are:
Never, ever give your security details when a company phones you, practoce the phrase "Sorry I don't give out security information on the phone if a company calls me - I will call you back from a different phone via the phone number quoted on my card, thanks byeee"

Get Lastpass and make sure very single password is different (It will alert you if you're using the same one more than once). It saves everything from NI number and wifi passwords, passport numbers, to card details and passwords. Companies are perfectly happy that you store passwords this way, so you won' t get in trouble if you have any kind of identity fraud.

Really seriously I wouldn't use the same password for anything at all nowadays.

Like others, I use a book, but I tend to write a way of remembering the password, rather than the actual password.

So if it were Green98, I'd write 'favourite colour, year of birth' I wish type thing.

Lastpass.

I have to keep client passwords secure too, so I use it for those as well as my own.

ALL of you using notebooks! NO,

You (in very near future):
"Hi, Bank123 Ltd, I'd like to report a fraud, I've had money stolen from my account"

Bank: "Bla bla bla.... and have you written down or shared your security information anywhere?"

You: "Yes, they were all written down in a notebook..."

Bank: "Sorry, your fault mate, no refunds for you"

Versus:
You (in very near future):
"Hi, Bank123 Ltd, I'd like to report a fraud, I've had money stolen from my account"

Bank: "Bla bla bla.... and have you written down or shared your security information anywhere?"

You: "No, I have them stored on Lastpass as recommended by security experts and your bank"

Bank: "Oh great, we will refund you and sort this out"

I have a system.

I put all my accounts in a numbered list, with my email account as number 1.

I then pick a song. Each password then corresponds to the first letter of each word in the corresponding line of the song. (Ie one line equals one password).
You also substitute the letter i for a number one and too/to for 2. Numbers stay the same.

For example a line in a Dolly Parton song might be "W925wawtmal" not an actual password.

If you need to change a password change the song (and all the passwords)

The reason the email is the first one is it's easiest to remember (ie it's the first line of the song) and I store my list in my email. Once I know what Line I'm looking for it's easy enough to remember the password.

Back in the day, I used to base my passwords on personal attributes I would like to have.

Hence:

Amazing_grace

Statuesqueandslim

Withering_wit

Nofucksgiven

etc

Eleventying LastPass. Saved my skin more than a few times.

And if you don't trust Lastpass either, that's fair enough, but as I said, when it comes to banks giving you back money you've been defrauded of, in the very near future this is likely to only happen if you've followed recommended procedures - such as using Lastpass.

Honestly its much easier, and I use it daily

A good way of making a master password that can't be guessed is to use the road name and postcode from the address of a distant relative or a business that you deal with.
If you forget the address you can easily look it up.