Password Tips and Examples
As computing power has gotten faster and cheaper, password cracking generators have gotten better as well. A password cracking program can rapidly try all English words, all combinations of seven or fewer characters, and common passwords such as 12345678 and password123. In addition, anyone with access to your personal information can try names and dates from that information.
Good Password Requirements
A strong password:
- Is at least 8 characters long (preferably longer)
- Doesn't include your name or other easily obtained personal information
- Uses a mix of lower case letters, uppercase letters, numbers, and symbols
- Is only used for one program
Password Advice and Examples
To create a strong password that is still easy to remember, try starting with a phrase or sentence. Then play around with symbols, shorthands, and misspellings to make it more secure. Remember that you can have spaces in your password. Some examples:
- "Beans and rice are my favorite foods" can become Beans&ricearemyFavoriteFoods!, Rbeans&ricemyfavoritefoods? or BeansNRiceRFavz!
- "I can't wait 2 go to Spain" can become Ican'twait2go2Spain!
- "Meet me at the store" can become mEEtme@zeStore
- "Cat or dog?" can become ?KatsRd0gs or you can leave it as is.
What Makes a Bad Password
Do not base your password on any of the following. They are far too easy to guess (even if you spell them backwards).
- Any names, including yours or that of your parents, children, pets, friends, characters from popular media, etc.
- Your phone number, address, birthday, etc.
- Your social security, drivers license, or license plate numbers.
- One or two words found in a dictionary.
- The phrases "Let me in," "open up," or something similar.
- Simple patterns like "lolololololo" or "12345678."
- Any password used as an example in a manual or in help (including the examples given here).
- A password that you use elsewhere, especially an insecure program or website.
Related Help