forre: This thread is a complimentary to the announcement
Forum account security
This should help people with the passwords they choose.
I will keep it simple and since this is (general) it can be used anywhere passwords are used.
First I will explain how passwords work.
As you know you all have an account on this forum the name of your account is your username but you also have a 'user_id' this is the number that represents you.
If you view my profile look at the adress-bar you will see viewprofile&u=
2381 <-- that number is my user id.
When you login to the forum you enter two bits of information you username and password.
The username is used to find the 'user_id' and then your password is checked to see if it is the same as the one that is accociated with the 'user_id'
If its the same it lets you in. If not you get a few attempts before it stops you from logging in for a while.
So now you know how passwords work. I didnt talk about how passwords are stored, if anyone want to know about that request it and I will talk about that a little more.
So why is it important you use a good password? Obviously so nobody can access your account, pretend to be you and more importantly delete stuff.
So their are a few rules to follow when you pick you password.
- Do not use words that are in the dictionary.
- Do not use names. (pets, places, people).
- Minimum length should be 8 characters.
- Do not use only letters and numbers
Use symbols also like : !£$%&*
This will stop people from guessing your password AND stop computers from guessing your password.
Computers dont really guess they just try everything...! That is why you want a minimum of 8 characters because after that the time it takes a computer to guess your password becomes too long to attempt.
The longer the better.
Now their is the problem of trying to remember this long password.
So here are a few tips.
1 - It dosnt need to be one word you can use a pass
phrase
2 - You can repeat words to make longer words
4 - use numbers instead of some letters.
Examples:
1 - this_is-a_passphrase-2007
2 - tatu&tatu&tatu$22
3 - my_n
4m
3_
1s_j
0n
Finally you can check any current passwords you use to see how good they are.
It rates your password based on similar rules I posted above.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/you...d/checker.mspx
Courtesy of Microsoft