Passwords, logins, and all that... nearly lost them all

Jaycee

Like @Danny1969 I use an algorithm.  Passwords are generally between 8 -12 characters. So lets decide on 11.

An example could be....

Always start with a capital letter.

Always use the first 5 letters of the website.

After the first letter type in the first character of your password.  (lets say your password is (1T3S7)

After you typed in the first character of your password type in the second letter of the website, then the second character of your password  carry on in this way.....  allways finish with the same character i.e z.

So for the fretboard the password would be  T1hTe3fSr7z.

I have logged onto websites not used for years and as long as I used this formula to sign up it has worked.

roundthebend

Or you could use a password manager to generate a very random password and store it securely with easy access across all your devices. These algorithms sounds like a great idea but i always found a website who's rules didn't fit. Password manager solves that. With ease. And does more if you need it to.

zepp76

I use my mind, that’s not me being funny or anything I just have a very rain man kind of brain where I can memorise all sorts of passwords and numbers, especially numbers yet when I’m in conversation with someone I can forget the simplest of words I’m trying to convey, it’s a blessing and a curse.

skullfunkerry

zepp76 said:

I use my mind, that’s not me being funny or anything I just have a very rain man kind of brain where I can memorise all sorts of passwords and numbers, especially numbers yet when I’m in conversation with someone I can forget the simplest of words I’m trying to convey, it’s a blessing and a curse.

I used to work with a guy like that. He was an IT techie and he'd memorised all the different license keys for the various software he had to install 

roundthebend

I use my mind too - Lastpass generates my laptop and network passwords, but obviously it can't fill those in until I've logged in which is a bit of a paradox, so after a few iterations I can usually remember them as long as they're no more than about 10 characters.

rze99

Just to say make sure your family have safely stored access to key finance passwords for fund transfers and bills. If you die they will need them ASAP. Yes this happened to my family and without the passwords you are in for a lot of pain when you are grieving. 

ICBM

rze99 said:

Just to say make sure your family have safely stored access to key finance passwords for fund transfers and bills. If you die they will need them ASAP. Yes this happened to my family and without the passwords you are in for a lot of pain when you are grieving. 

A friend of mine who lived alone died a few months ago, and I'm helping his family sort out his music gear - very luckily his main computer only had a weak password that the family were able to guess, so they could access all his contacts (including me). He also had a music computer with a different password, which remains locked and will just have to be wiped before it's disposed of - likewise his phone. If he'd been more careful with his computer, they wouldn't have been able to contact me or anyone else who knew him.

guitartango

ICBM said:

rze99 said:

Just to say make sure your family have safely stored access to key finance passwords for fund transfers and bills. If you die they will need them ASAP. Yes this happened to my family and without the passwords you are in for a lot of pain when you are grieving. 

A friend of mine who lived alone died a few months ago, and I'm helping his family sort out his music gear - very luckily his main computer only had a weak password that the family were able to guess, so they could access all his contacts (including me). He also had a music computer with a different password, which remains locked and will just have to be wiped before it's disposed of - likewise his phone. If he'd been more careful with his computer, they wouldn't have been able to contact me or anyone else who knew him.

Should be easy to break into the other Music computer unless it is a Mac

guitartango

I never trust online password providers, imagine all of your passwords dumped on the Dark Web?

oaf

guitartango said:

I never trust online password providers, imagine all of your passwords dumped on the Dark Web?

They're encrypted. Alternatively you can self-host with e.g. Bitwarden for free.

crunchman

ICBM said:

rze99 said:

Just to say make sure your family have safely stored access to key finance passwords for fund transfers and bills. If you die they will need them ASAP. Yes this happened to my family and without the passwords you are in for a lot of pain when you are grieving. 

A friend of mine who lived alone died a few months ago, and I'm helping his family sort out his music gear - very luckily his main computer only had a weak password that the family were able to guess, so they could access all his contacts (including me). He also had a music computer with a different password, which remains locked and will just have to be wiped before it's disposed of - likewise his phone. If he'd been more careful with his computer, they wouldn't have been able to contact me or anyone else who knew him.

Can you take the hard drive out and read it from a USB caddy on another computer?  Or is it encrypted?

Danny1969

You can read any Win 7 or Win 10 drive on another PC, just remove the permissions. Just click yes to get permission ... most pointless security ever.  Any Mac will read the drive without removing the permissions so I tend to use a Mac for quicker access on failing drives. 
Personally my wife knows all my passwords so wouldn't be a problem.

NelsonP

Wow - some people on here using really complicated ways of remembering their passwords!?!?

I just use password123 on everything. No-one would ever think of that.

ICBM

guitartango said:

Should be easy to break into the other Music computer unless it is a Mac

Mac Mini.

To be honest it won't matter - there's not likely to be anything of importance on it other than his music. The family aren't into music at all really, which is why they asked me to sort out the guitar gear.

57Deluxe

I do this:

TalkTalk login:

*****_*1

and then completely forget what the ** were... Seemed bloody obvious at the time though.