To ask how you remember your passwords?

[Geminijust]

You seem to need a password to do anything these days! We do have a book at home that we write them in when we remember but if we're not at home it's a bit of a problem. I've had a notification that I've won a prize on the lottery but won't know if I'm a millionaire until I can get the password later today 🤣 I used to use the same one all the time so I'd remember (yes I know you're not supposed to) but now most need umpteen letters and special characters that I would never remember so I can't do that anymore. I do usually click "save password" which works until my phone resets itself or something then I'm stuffed unless I can get to the password book or click "forgot password" if I'm desperate. I'm so happy when I can check out as a guest (increasingly rare).

Is it just me?

Password managers are baked into every browser or operating system nowadays.
I pay for the use of 1Password as it has the ability to share passwords between family members and works across desktop PC and different O/S etc. It works pretty well but occasionally there are websites where it can struggle to autofill and you end up manually copying and pasting from the manager interface.

What on earth do you mean about your phone resetting itself? That makes no sense - it’s not a thing that just happens - and you probably need to review your settings.

My passwords are all saved on my phone. I get it to auto generate secure ones. I also have a password manager I can use on my work laptop.

I use the Apple Keychain one, it probably isn't the best but I find it easy to use as I only use Apple devices and computer. I generally use the ones Apple generates for me but on some of the TV apps, I choose a fairly simple password because of typing it into the TV screen with remote control. DH has a little book for his.

I have a list. I know that sounds daft but I don't list the full password but enough that will remind me.
For example, if the password was TwoLeftSocks9& I would just put TLS in my list, for a, number I might use the day of my birthday, and a special character might always be &.
So I would list it as TLSday+ and I would recognise and know what that means to me.

Password books are horrendously insecure if you're ever burgled, throw that thing straight in the bin. Or rather, shredder! Then start using a password manager. I use LastPass but there are lots of equivalent ones out there.

Yes, I keep telling DH that, he doesn't know any of my important passwords because I know they will be written in the little book

Has a burgler in the Uk ever done this?

Google chrome and Explorer both do password saves / management. For the few that don't work like that I might write a note on my phone but as a pp said, usually not the whole thing just a memory nudge. Almost all sites now do an instant PW reset option too so that can be used. Come on OP, this reads like a post from 15 years ago!

And good luck to any in my house.

I have to scrabble around for 30 mins myself sometimes, as a.i have to find the books they are written in, and b. then decipher my scribbles.

I have several lists, similar system to @TwoLeftSocksWithHoles.
There are so many, it does my head in. Surely biometrics are the way to go.

What on earth do you mean about your phone resetting itself? That makes no sense - it’s not a thing that just happens - and you probably need to review your settings.

No idea but every so often the password won't autocomplete, I assumed the phone had done an update or I'd accidentally logged out or something 😑

I have 3 key phrases which have some letters changed to special characters which are common to all my passwords and then I add a number code based on the website I'm using. I don’t have to remember anything apart from the start phrase. I sometimes get it wrong if it’s a website I don’t use often but usually get it within 3 guesses before I get locked out.

I use a password manager, so much easier as then I only need to remember the master password.

But then this happens...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4396831.stm

😱

i use a lap top that i can look up passwords in the settings if necessary
otherwise Forgotten Password button is often pressed

The really important ones are in mine and DH heads, there is a specific pattern to them and also a number sequence. I watched a murder on tv and the murderer just used the persons dead face to open their phone. I can still remember phone numbers that I haven’t called for decades though and all my old passwords for work.

Yes, let’s all share the secret protocols we use to remember, to assist fraudsters and hackers with ideas! E.g ‘I use the name of my primary school followed by the length of my hair in Cms’

When this happens you should be able to go into your phones password manager and find the password manually.

On an iPhone it’s via ‘Settings’ - choose Passwords and you can then search through for the relevant website and copy the password with a tap. You can even usually get there straight from a website if you have the autocomplete bar on the keyboard, there will be a little key icon to click.

Not sure what the equivalent is in Android but it’ll be there!

I use Bitwarden. One password to get in and I don't have to remember the rest. I like it because you can copy and paste passwords or make them visible if you need to give it to someone. Phones lose them, or I need it on my laptop and it's saved in my phone etc.

I use two words for my passwords. I change the use of capitals and the letters to numbers, so 1 for the l, 5 for the s etc. One of them was my log on word, for my work computer twenty four years ago. My youngest DD uses three passwords and mixes them up, as I do. We go between, ! and % for special characters. It's easy to remember if you use words that mean something, or a favorite holiday/film/video game etc.

https://passwords.google.com/ it suggests strong passwords to use too

It is important to use unique passwords and passphrases for each of your accounts to protect your accounts from cyber attacks like credential stuffing. Cyber criminals take advantage of the fact that many users reuse their credentials across various platforms

Notepad file on the laptop with every log in and password.

Ha, quite!

And let's all lists the apps we use too, so they know which ones to try and hack first!

Use a password manager.

If you won't do that, base the password on something you already know, like a song lyric, and use the first character of each word.

I use the company name and its purpose/ what I do or buy there along with one of three groups of numbers , if its a physical place , part of its post code, if it's a on line account part of my account number , or part over my childhood phone number.
I tend to have to see what I am writing in the password box tho and not all websites allow that.

So if woolworths was still around I'd use

W o o l w o r t h s
R e c o r d s
3 1 k

Wroeoclowrortsh3s1k

If both words are long I stop when I have got to 8 characters. So in this case I'd stop at the 3rd O .

There is also something else I do which I am not going to post on here 🤫