I work in IT, so I have a some great password tips if you want to hear them:
1. Always 8 or more characters
2. At least 3 type of characters (uppercase, lowercase and numbers are fine. The more you work in the better).
3. No words, names, birthdates, addresses, etc.
4. Change passwords at least every year (six months is better).
5. DON'T WRITE IT DOWN!
Here's what I do and it works really well. I think of a song. Then I go through each line of the song and take the first letter of each word along with all the punctuation. Then I replace all the letter "e"s with a "3" and the word "and" gets an "&". So for instance:
My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard.
might become: Mmsbatbtty.
Then I would replace the "a" with "@" if that symbol is allowed and the "s" with a "5". Maybe the "y" with a ")"
now it's a respectable: "Mm5b@tbtt)." Now that's a password! And you can easily remember it by remembering the song.
When it comes time to change, you just move on to the next line of the song. So nex would be: "@)cb1bt)!" (and you can bet it's better than yours!).
Anyway, nobody is going to crack that without some serious time, effort and hardware.
Where be your gibes now? your gambols? your songs?
Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?
Not one now, to mock your own grinning?[This message has been edited by drnick (edited 08-04-2009 @ 01:18 PM).]