What tricks do you use to remember all of your passwords and PINs?

1. 77

   Laura Schneiderposted 10 years ago

   What tricks do you use to remember all of your passwords and PINs?

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2. 61

   LindaSmith1posted 10 years ago

   How I remember my passwords and pins is a secret for a reason.

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3. 70

   connorjposted 10 years ago

   I simply employ the most under-rated tactic, that would indeed be,
   writing them down to remind my significantly limited memory to jog.

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4. 63

   Craig Suitsposted 10 years ago

   I'd rather have hairy warts on my nose than passwords. What a pain in the ass over the years. I have four children and I rely on other people to remind me when their birthdays are.
   One trick I tried a few years ago was to use all my old girlfriends names. Never forget them right? UGH, I didn't realize how many there was, I'm 73 now.
   These days most of the web sites demand an encrypted sign on the Pentagon would be proud to use. Who the hell is going to spend all day hacking into my Facebook account. Bring it on, that's what social media is all about anyway.
   Anyway, I have a new trick that's not 100% but it gets you started remembering your sign on ID's. I simply use the name of the web site upfront and then add a few digits or so to satisfy their demands. i.e., My Facebook sign would begin with "facebook" followed by my name, rank and serial number or what ever else these morons require just so I can send pictures to more morons.
   I can't wait till they put a fingerprint reader on the things. My life would be a damn sight easier...

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   1. 81

      Patty Inglish, MSposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      A also await fingerprint sign-ins. Your pw suggestion is similar to Kim Komando's suggestion to use four easy-to-remember digits followed by the initials or first syllable of a website name: 1937Face, 1937Yah, etc.

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5. 61

   The Examiner-1posted 10 years ago

   As each site comes up, my 'instincts' kick in and I automatically type it in. It just takes practice and memorization.

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6. 82

   junksellerposted 10 years ago

   If you are remembering passwords at all, then you are probably making a mistake. Easy to to remember, generally means easier to hack. That doesn't mean you will be hacked, but that won't be for having good security, it will just be luck, and luck is a poor security strategy.
   
   A good password strategy should include having strong passwords, having different passwords for all sites, and changing them frequently. Strong passwords should include lower case letters, upper case letters, symbols, and numbers, be long, and not include recognizable words or number sequences.
   
   For most people, memory isn't going to be good enough to implement such a strategy. My recommendation is a good password manager. With a password manager, you can generate long random passwords, and have the password manager log-on to sites for you. It can also remind you to change passwords regularly and some will test your passwords to see how strong they are. All you have to remember is one master password to get into the manager.
   
   People also shouldn't be so flippant about 'unimportant' sites such as Facebook or other social media. Many people do not realize how much information can be found out about a person from something like Facebook. Even with out hacking into it, you can often find out people's friends and family members, sometimes where they live, in general, or even specifically. If a hacker gained access to someone's Facebook, then they can get emails and possibly phone numbers or addresses, and that information would grant a would-be hacker the ability to do some further damage.
   
   All passwords should be strong. One weak password is like having a super security system on your house but always leaving the backdoor open.
   
   At the very least, everyone should include a number, symbol, uppercase letter sequence in their passwords. Even if it is the same sequence, it will make simple brute force techniques much less likely to succeed. So for example if you are using "moondust" as your password, convert it to "moon4$Dust" and the time to hack it goes from 2 minutes to 4 hours. You can check password hack times here (but don't check an actual password, check one with a similar pattern): http://blog.kaspersky.com/password-check/
   
   Comparatively, a random 10 character sequence which includes numbers, lower-case and upper-case letters, and symbols will take 68 years.

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7. 68

   kevinfreamposted 10 years ago

   I generally agree with Junkseller with the exception of not using a password manager.
   
   If you turn on two factor authentication for most services, a pin number will be texted to you for entry after the password. Then you can have somewhat easier passwords to remember.

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8. 67

   ccdursinaposted 10 years ago

   it's about strategy or going to have a list when you have too many...

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9. 77

   liesl5858posted 10 years ago

   I write them down in a small notebook but I use my own dialect which no one will know. I mix and match numbers and letters but they would be written in my own dialect which no one would be able to read unless they know my own dialect. I live in England but everyone uses the English language, no one will know mine.

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10. 78

    sweetpikezposted 10 years ago

    People nowadays are very busy. Sometimes we tend to forget some things. Remember when you were rushing things in an overcrowded shopping mall then suddenly, the machine said "wrong pin". You tried another card but the message was the same. For the reason of remembering,  you could have the same security passwords and pins. Just be careful of the character combination and sharing your personal information.

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11. 59

    wastrelposted 10 years ago

    I gave up on trying to REMEMBER all of them some time ago. Now I just carry a small  $1 notebook in which all my log-ins written down.
         
       If you MUST remember a good tactic is to substitute all vowels and the letter "s" with special characters  : L@Ur@ $chn3!d3r

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