The easiest way to create a secure password

Easiest way to create a secure password
Change your password

It’s Change Your Password Day! The best advice I can give you is to use a secure password manager. Then, you only have to remember one password and it remembers all the others. It also creates secure passwords for you. The latest version of Microsoft Edge has good password management built in and I use it for quite a few sites. For sites that need extra security like online banking, I still use a password manager.

There are a few that get high marks. I use LastPass. 1Password has been getting good reviews for years. Here’s an article on the latest reviews in PC Magazine. Just be sure to use one that’s been around a while. The last thing you need is to have the company disappear along with your passwords. Regardless of which one you use, change your master password regularly. I have to change my work password every 90 days so I change my master password for the password manager at the same time.

A secure password should be at least 16 characters long and include a variety of cases (upper and lower), letters, numbers, and special characters. For those of you who want to use the word “password” as your password, it could look like this:

P@55w0rd P@ssw0rd.

Here’s another way to create an easy to remember password:

Take the lyrics of your favorite song:

Just the two of us
We can make it if we try

Leave just the first letters from every word:

jt2ouwcmiiwt

Use uppercase for the first letter of each line:

Jt2ouWcmiiwt

Add your favorite smiley face and number:

;-D82

There you go!

Jt2ouWcmiiwt;-D82

Now you can sing and smile every time you type your very secure password.

Here’s my post for more on passwords and cybersecurity. I’ve written another post on how to protect yourself from cyber-scams.

Tricia Santos

After 18 years of providing computer consulting, training and speaking, I fell into a "real" job (managing a dental specialist practice). So, I gave up my business in 2007. However, I still love learning about computers and sharing what I know. This really is my favorite hobby. Hope you find it useful.

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