Passwords

Have you ever counted the number of passwords you have? Not necessarily use, but have.

I came up with 14. I probably have more but I’ve forgotten them — ones used on web sites I no longer visit.

We’re all warned not to use birthdates, the names of deceased or living pets — anything that can easily be figured out by those who want access to our money or privacy. I get the thing about keeping my debit card number a deep dark secret but I really can’t envision anyone (a spy? a detective?) sitting at my computer trying to access my files. Boring.

"The ideal password is for one site only, it uses letters in both upper and lower case, numbers, and other characters. Something like this: EAJst9s74*$d!2 -- but the problem is that it is just not easy to remember.”

No kidding. If I created passwords like that, I’d have to write them down somewhere which kind of defeats the purpose of keeping them a secret.

I won’t tell you how I do figure out my important passwords (if I did I would have to kill you…) but mine are certainly easier to remember than the example shown above.

My eldest son once told me that for sites you really don’t give a rip about, use the same password for each site — one that is simple but rather bizarre such as a product name (Bounce Sheets, Ketchup) or just a word like “renegade” or “dermatology.” (And, no, those aren’t mine.) Doing this makes it easier on the brain for someone like me.

As for the advice to frequently change your password — forget it. If I did that, I’d never remember what they were and be denied access to all my accounts.

Gone are the good old days when all I had to remember was the combination to my school locker.

There are passwords I really do care about keeping private — the one that gives me access to my account on this computer and the ones for my email accounts. Whenever I’m about to type in one of those passwords and a family member is hovering nearby, I ask them to avert their eyes.

Their response? “Ah, we don’t care about the stuff you have on your computer or your email.”

WELL, I DO. And I care about keeping it all mine.

Why? I think that in a household of all males, this is the only privacy I have. And it’s precious to me.

So there, guys.