Online life means living with passwords and trying to remember them - a lot. Internet accounts, e-mail and instant messaging require you to enter your username and password. Online banking, credit cards and shopping sites must also be safe. Meanwhile, less sensitive sites like Consumer Reports (www.consumerreports.org) and New York Times (ww.nytimes.com) may require lower login security.
Coping with so many user names and passwords, many people have used a simple solution. They pick a pair of words that are easy to remember and apply everywhere. It could be the dog's name, the date of birth of the child, or the name of the character in the favorite movie. Someone also uses the 'password' key to move a key to the right (to make '[sddeptf').
Sorry to report a bad password stealers are day and night stalking us. If your password is just 'abc123' or 'iluvm', then you probably do not have a password. If the password contains only names or any words that can be found in a dictionary (English or any other language), it is useless. A knowledgeable person who is well equipped and knows your username will be able to quickly deduce simple passwords and access your Internet accounts, e-mail accounts or bank accounts.
Figure 1: Create and save your password using the free Password Safe program
Using the same weak password for multiple sites or servers will make it easy for someone to take control of your account. Even if your passwords are relatively strong, using the same password for many different sites also reduces your security. The site manager or know your data is able to access that password, and they can find out where to use it based on your e-mail address or IP address (which they can also have ). Also, the usernames and passwords that you use to access Web pages or to import your e-mail messages can be streamed over the Internet as plain, unencrypted documents, and tricky ones. It will pick up the password for use elsewhere.
Safety in numbers
Follow these three common rules to ensure the security of your passwords and the data they protect.
Choose a strong password: Include six to eight random alphanumeric characters. The weak password contains numbers that are easy to guess, or names or words can be found in the dictionary, even if it is a Latin dictionary. Mixing lowercase and capital letters may be important, depending on the password-receiving system, but always include multiple letters, numbers, and periods. For example, 'scott123' is a weak password. And as yet unpublished, '8hT $ 2 @ N8' is a strong password.
Successfully building a random password is not easy for an average person, so you may have to use a tool such as Info Tech Professional for the Random Password Generator (eg. - to create passwords for you.
Safely store passwords: Since you can not remember dozens of different password passwords, you have to keep them in a safe place. The first thing to keep in mind is that there is no really safe place to store passwords: the most convenient place is also the safest place, and the safest method is the most inconvenient.
Putting passwords into paper, putting them somewhere, or sticking them into a book is a good way to keep that book open - and you do not forget to paste it in any book. Keeping passwords in files on a PC can be more convenient, but it is very risky if the hard disk is damaged. To avoid such a vicious accident, print a copy and put it in a safe place or a tedious book that nobody wants to read.
If you sell a computer or replace a drive, you must delete the password file, and then use a file deletion utility to permanently erase the data on the drive, so that the new owner can not recover your password file. Refer to PCW EN A 6/2003 p.114 or find.pcworld.com/36629 for instructions on how to remove the hard drive.
Encrypt and password-protect your password-protected files. You can password-protect your Word 2002 and Excel 2002 files using a strong 128-bit encryption key. Select Tools, Options, Security in either of those programs to enter the password, and click Advanced to select the encryption level. Of course, choose a strong password that you can remember.
Figure 2: Schedule a Web feed to an IE storage area by setting up offline offline syncing of your favorite sites
If you do not use Word 2002 or Excel 2002, or do not believe these programs are safe enough, you can download the free Password Safe utility from Counterpane Lab (find.pcworld.com/36320). In addition to using the Blowfish encryption method to encrypt the user name and password database, Password Safe also has a handy password generator (Figure 1) that allows you to copy the user name and password to the Windows Clipboard with just one Click the mouse. When closing Password Safe, the program will remove the password from the Clipboard.
Passwords are safe: A major impediment to password security is the ability to keep people's innate secrets. Once you've created a password, do not reveal it to anyone. No one, including your bank or ISP, is required to tell you your password, whether by phone, e-mail, or by an individual (however, your IT support person). you are another story). Do not share your password with a colleague, nor do you write it in a notebook placed in your desk drawer. Do not let anyone peek over your shoulder when you are logged on to a network or on a protected Web site. And for maximum peace of mind, you should not keep your personal password on your PC at work.
If you suspect one of your passwords has been compromised, just use the Web site's password management options to change it. In fact, any site or online service related to passwords will allow you to login and select new passwords quickly.
Store news if possible
Are you the kind of person who just loves reading a laptop instead of reading a newspaper while sitting on a train, on a ferry or in the airport? Unless you are willing to pay exorbitant prices for wireless connectivity, chances are you may not be online. However, with a little action, you can ask your browser to automatically download your favorite news sites for reading on the go.
To use Explorer 6 to load any Web site to read offline, first go to that site, select Favorites, Add to Favorites, check Make available offline, and click Customize to open the Offline Favorite Wizard. Click Next to start moving through the wizard. Select Yes if you want to download pages linking to the site's main page (or if you prefer to read only through the headings), telling the wizard how deep you want to host the links (little ones). experience should only select one level deep), and then click Next. Select I would like to create a new schedule, then click Next again. Select the iteration cycle and time to perform the site synchronization (Figure 2). You can also set this synchronization to automatically connect when you go online the next time (if you exit offline online at a preset time) and enter the user name and password. Click Finish when done.
