Great Passwords Made Easy

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from www.lifehacker.com
Remember 100 different passwords with 1 rule set.

You don’t need to remember 100 passwords if you have 1 rule set for
generating them. One way to generate unique passwords is to choose a
base password and then apply a rule that mashes in some form of the
service name with it. For example, you may use your base password with
the first two consonants and the first two vowels of the service name.
Say your base password is “asdf.” (See how easy those keys are to
type?). Then your password for Yahoo would be ASDFYHAO, and your
password for eBay would be ASDFBYEA.

Something simpler - but along the same lines - might involve the same
letters to start (say, your initials and a favorite number) plus the
first 3 letters of a service name. In that case, my password for Amazon
would be GMLT10AMA and for Lifehacker.com GMLT10LIF. (Include obscure
middle initials - like your mother’s maiden name or a childhood
nickname - that not many people know about for extra security.)

Before you decide on your single password generation rule, keep in mind
that while password requirements are different for each service in
terms of length and characters allowed and required, a good guideline
is a password at least 8 characters long that includes both letters and
numbers. To make a password even more secure - or applicable for
services that require special characters - add them around it, like

Choose your base password

Some options for choosing your base password:

• The first letter of a phrase or song refrain. For example, if you
  wanted to use the famous Jackson 5 song “I Want You Back”, your base
  password might be “IWUB.” Remembering the password is a matter of
  singing yourself the song.
• Use a pre-established keyboard pattern, like “yui” or “zxcv.” Just look at your keyboard to remember it.
• Use your spouse’s initials and your anniversary, like “TFB0602.”
  This one guarantees you won’t forget an anniversary card, either.
• For extra security, choose an easy to remember base, like your
  spouse’s initials, or the word “cat” and then shift your fingers up one
  row on the keyboard when you type it. In the case of “cat,” you’d get
  “dq5.”

Then combine this base with some extra information unique to the service.

A clever password generator bookmarklet creates a password based on a web site URL and autofills it when you visit that site with a click. View John Udell’s video demonstration of this bookmarklet in action. Another option is to simply use Firefox to manage your web site logins. See previous feature, Secure your saved passwords in Firefox for more information.

One problem with rules-based passwords is that some sites have their
own password requirements that conflict with your established password,
such as “no special characters” or “at least 12 characters in length”
or “all numbers/numbers and letters/just alphabetical.” In those cases,
somehow you have to document or remember the exception to your rule for
those services. On Friday we’ll cover tracking your passwords somewhere
more secure than that sticky note on your monitor.

How do you choose your passwords? Let us know in the comments or at tips at lifehacker.com.

Gina Trapani, the editor of Lifehacker, wishes she’d decided on a single rule set about 10 years ago. Her semi-weekly feature, Geek to Live, appears every Wednesday and Friday on Lifehacker. Subscribe to the Geek to Live feed to get new installments in your newsreader.

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