One of the most frustrating things for me is dealing with passwords. Often times, especially for my Apple ID, I will create a password and then forget it. This is a direct result of having to create a new password whenever I need to enter it again to regain access to my account.
This happens after updates usually, and I always kick myself for not writing it down. This leads to a vicious cycle of creating new and unique passwords that extend beyond my normal scope of password habits, making them more difficult to remember each time.
If you are like me, then you know how hard it is to remember passwords, especially if you find yourself changing them often. In an ever-growing world of digital routines and necessary every-day online needs, it is important for us to make sure that when we do create a password that it is unique enough to prevent hackers from gaining access to our private information. To ensure you are as protected as possible, here are some of the top password creations strategies as well as ways to remember them.
Avoid These Common Password Patterns
One way we solve the problem of remembering passwords is we use the same password across multiple platforms. Many of us know this is a big no-no, but we tend to fall into this habit because we don’t want to have a list of our passwords lying around somewhere. If you can avoid doing so, it is advised to use unique passwords for everything.
Another common thing we tend to do when creating passwords is keeping it short using only letters and numbers according to the article “Stop Making These 8 Risky Password Mistakes.” The easiest passwords to guess are short and do not utilize any unique characters. Furthermore, we tend to group numbers at the head of the password or at the tail end, further adding to predictability.
The best way to create a password is to make sure to avoid a pattern, dispersing numbers, letters, and unique characters throughout rather than in a predictable pattern.
Also, similar to the patterns we tend to subconsciously create with letters and numbers, our placement of uppercase letters and unique characters like exclamation points tend to also follow a pattern. We like to uppercase the first letter of our passwords, and place exclamation points at the end of them. Instead, you should randomize where you place these two things, increasing the protection quality of your password.
Remembering These Passwords
To make sure you do not forget all of these passwords, you can use a manager like LastPass, which allows you to store all of your passwords through their encrypted and secure system. It will take time to set up your account, for you need to enter each password you use for a specific website so that your password manager can autofill the correct password.
It is not advised to write them down on a notepad, but if you are adamant about doing it this way, then it is probably best if you secure this password list in a secured safe. That way if someone beaks into your home, they won’t make off with an entire list of your passwords. Even then it is still a security issue, but people I know still do it. Do what works for you, just make sure you take the necessary steps to protect this information.
