OT How strong need my password be?

We had a tech support guy who was clueless. His co-workers took delight in changing his wallpaper to ferrets. I don't think he ever figured out how to change it or secure his machine.

True. That's why I'm afraid to make enemies -- which is why I don't use my full name online.

It used to be that all you needed to do to cancel service for phone or electric or gas was call up and cancel it, but too many vindictive people and pranksters cancelled other people's service, so now you have to prove who you are to do most things.

Exactly, and when it's one of those sites where no one can hurt you anyhow, it is so ridiculous. I write everything down but then I try to hide it from hackers, so it's a pain to look for one and I prefer to remember them. But then they want me to change it, and I can rarely remember the replacement.

Definitely not.

I'm sorry I didn't realize that when I started. I took what they said seriously. I suppose it's not too late to start using the same password and userid for those sites where I can't be hurt, but my compulsive nature wants to keep using different ones because t h at's the way I've been doing it.

I let Firefox remember all the userids and passwords for the ones that don't involve money, so that helps, but when I switched computers, it wasn't possible to copy everything over. So I'm glad I'd written it in a file too.

I don't remember it asking for my zipcode, but I'm usually willing to give that out. There are a lot of people here.

My friend has a real FB account and one with a phony name. I only have the latter. When FB counts the number enrolled, I wouldn't be surprised if 20% are phony.

Darn right.

u I have one that I started with and use for many things, but another is more secure and longer. I use variations as some sites require a capital letter. Some require a symbol too and it is easily done. With variations of a theme I can usually guess on the second try.

rbowman posted for all of us...

WE had kids that would do a screen capture and use that as wallpaper. Clicking would lead to frustration... Took care of that.

I've heard about this one too. It sounds like a good idea. Still some sites insist on things like uppercase AND lowercase AND digits. Maybe you could use camel case and a number that means something to you, like:

if you caught 7 trout there.

for uppercase/lowercase, sometimes it's appropriate (like Phoenix Arizona), otherwise I'd want to use camel case (like in JavaScript) where the first letter of a word is capitalized. You shouldn't have to use capitals at random places in a word (like hElLO tHErE). Examples:

PhoenixArizonacity grayElephantEating GrayElephantEating HendersonCountyGMO

(they just happened to be the same length). If you need digits, put a familiar wherever makes most sense to you.

The following virus requires your cooperation:

Please forward this to everyone you know, then delete all your personal data (don't forget backups).

Failure to follow these instructions may have severe consequences.

There's Firefox sync, which copies your passwords to all your computers. You're unlikely to lose them then, but it's still a good idea to have then written down too.

That's a good idea.

When it says I have to use a capital, I use only one and make it the first letter. I bet most people do it that way so it adds little to my security. I DON'T CARE

Micky wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Cancel your service, maybe?

Not now, perhaps. What about in the future? Anyway, even if there's nothing to be embarrassed about, it's still nobody else's business.

And it does have marketing value.

Because that's about #3 or #4 on the list of things that someone would use, trying to guess your password.