Computer systems require passwords so you can prove you are who you say you are. The big problem with passwords is good passwords are difficult to remember.

Simple passwords, such as names, places, dates, numbers in your address, pets, etc. can often be easily guessed by people that know you well. Passwords that are just words or numbers, or are short can quickly be guessed by a computer.

Passwords that are considered Strong are both difficult to guess by other people and take a very long time for a computer to crack. There are a few simple rules you can follow to make a strong password.

Strong passwords should be at least 8 characters long.
Strong passwords should be a mixture of numbers, letters, capitals, and lowercase. Ex. A4di9gs2.
Strong passwords should not be words, names, or dates.
Strong passwords should not be written down and kept at your desk in a drawer, under the mouse pad, etc.
When changing a strong password do not simply add a number to the end or change a single character.

Examples of strong passwords you can remember

With all of these rules, it seems like it would be impossible to remember a "strong" password. This isn't true. With a few memory tricks and a little bit of creativity, you can make a strong password that you can remember.

To make a strong password that you can remember, you can think of a phrase. Ex. "bad to the bone" and mix it up using numbers, capital and lowercase letters, shorthand, slang, anything you can think of the make it a "random" string of characters. Ex. "Bad2daB1" Here I changed the word "to" to the number 2, changed "the" to "da" and (getting really clever) changed the word "one" to the number "1" in bone.

To make a strong password that you can remember, you can think of a phrase. Ex. "one to one forever" and mix it up using numbers, capital and lowercase letters, shorthand, slang, anything you can think of the make it a "random" string of characters. Ex. "0ne->14eVr" Here I changed the first letter "O" to the number zero, changed the word "to" to an arrow "->", changed the second "one" to the number one, changed the first part of the word "forever" to the number 4 and dropped the 2nd "e".

Password Generator

Here are some computer generated "secure" passwords. These are automatically generated from 12 randomly chosen letters and numbers.

zwvpz4ZwaTU
JpRGwhaTKMgrh
U1gRySQh91S44
ukR96WnJcXu5q
0EMehcRsR8e
QvvGkcs3XnLu

These are probably not very good because most people will not be able to remember them without writing them down.

More Information

Microsoft website on strong passwords. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/privacy/password.mspx

A "local" article from the secureflorida.com website on strong passwords. http://www.secureflorida.org/index.php?src=gendocs&link=Passwords&category=Security%20Tips

Interesting Technical Article on strong passwords http://www.smat.us/sanity/pwdilemma.html