You might think I'm quite mad, but I'm thoroughly convinced that if you only have one password -- with some modifications -- you can still keep your computer as safe as if you had five or ten.
The conventional wisdom is that you should have several passwords to keep people out of your computer and deny them access to your various Internet banking or online shopping accounts. I use passwords all the time. I consider them to be as necessary as a lock on the door to my house.
But in the same way that I have a different key for my house, my car, my office, etc..., different passwords for every site I register for means that I have to remember each and every one. Oh, my brain hurts. It's especially confusing when I am trying to remember a password for a Web site or computer that I haven't used in a while.
And apparently I'm not alone in my forgetfulness. A security company in Redwood City called SupportSoft did a recent survey of more than 20 large multinational companies and asked each one, "What is the number one request of your IT help desk?"
And after looking over close to 2 million call logs, the answer more than any other (20 percent) was a problem with a password. That included having to reset a lost password or unlocking a software program because of forgetfulness.
So why not have just one password in your head -- I'll call it a password root -- and leave it at that? Now for the secret... All you have to do is add on extra characters to the root based on where you are or what you are using the password for. Still sound crazy? Let's take a look.
Here's how to do it:
Most Web sites will ask for at least an eight-digit number that is a combination of lower and upper case letters, numbers and sometimes punctuation symbols. For example, the word password has eight characters total. Try not to use the word "password" as your password. It's about as common as using 12345678... which is another bad choice.
So let's pick a word that you know that has nothing to do with your mother's maiden name, the names of your children, a pet or you significant other.
I like waffles. It's a six-letter word that I can use as my password root. I can mix it up a bit to accommodate different alpha-numerical combinations. Using the "@" symbol for the letter A and upper case letters elsewhere, my original waffle becomes W@ffle. Now all I need to do is add on a double digit number to the end -- W@ffle42 -- and I have a pretty secure password.
Now to really make it secure and re-usable, I can swap the numbers around to represent different sites that I'm using it for. If I had an eBay account, I could turn that W@ffle into a W@ffle42ebay. I still have my password root and it is now customized for my eBay account.
Another good idea is to write down the information on a sheet of paper and tuck that away somewhere where it is not easily seen. Post-it notes on your computer monitor are taboo. Taping your password to the bottom of the keyboard is not a good idea either.
If you want a good way to store all of your passwords, Apple Computer has a PDF document called "My Mac Cheat Sheet." But you have to promise not to tell people what your password root is... or that I like waffles.
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