By Kelly
We’re told to never write down passwords, or store them anywhere on our computer, or make them all the same, because that’s easy to hack.
That’s good advice, but with the hundreds of unique passwords we’re expected to “just remember” to run our personal and work lives, it’s unrealistic.
Because you’re not going to remember all your passwords, especially if you constantly have to reset them because you’ve forgotten them, or you’re made to reset them often for security.
If this last sentence makes you think, “Yeah, my accounts are so secure, I can’t even get into them,” you should try my “secret code” method of passwording.
It’s similar to the “password sandwich” method by Organized Audrey, but even easier.
All you have to do is create a secret code—a random string of four (or more) numbers matched with one special character (like the % sign). But the numbers should truly be random. It shouldn’t be something meaningful to you, like a birthday or an anniversary.
Then put the name of the thing you’re storing the password for, with a capital letter, at the beginning of the password and the secret code at the end. For instance, a password for Netflix would be “Netflix[SECRET CODE].”
Then the only thing you have to memorize is your secret code, and you’re free to type out all your passwords into a document and store it on your computer anywhere you want. Because no one can hack your accounts without your memorized, random secret code. (So don’t tell anyone. Save it for your deathbed.)
I have all my passwords in a text file on my Desktop called “CODES”. It’s an extremely long list that looks like this.
I haven’t had to reset a forgotten password in years. And if I have to reset one for security reasons, I just add a number to the end, starting with 1, and update my text file. For instance, “Netflix[SECRET CODE]1.”
I wish you a life free of wasting time resetting passwords!