Pluggers by Rick McKee for January 22, 2022

I seem to have forgotten my Wi-Fi password when on my Amazon Fire although I have it written in a certain binder (I’m typing from my iMac where the Wi-Fi is doing fine).

Passwords? That’s what Post-It notes are for!

That’s why I have a ‘little blue book’ with all the info I need for all the places that I visit with my ‘puter’ ! ! ! !

Paper and Pen make for a long memory :-)

Writing your passwords down on paper is much more secure than having them in a plain text file on your system. It also makes it easier on your SO should something happen to you.

OHHHH yes!

I have 2 paper pages of acc’t passwords that I keep in my flatbed scanner and a copy of it in a desktop folder labeled “Old E-Mails”.. Nothing like hiding in plain sight, y’know..

Use a good password generator. One password to remember and it’s waayyyyy more secure all the way around.

Look into LastPass or Enpass

And a shout out to soundbytes.org

Or after 72.5 days change password at least 27 characters, 2 caps, 16 lower, (with no words) 9 numbers which must = at least 22, 5 symbols but no % # @ * ] however [ is ok. No part of new pass-code can be included in last four passwords.

That’s why I have 2 plus pages of user IDs and passwords. Most of the time I access that first, then log into an account. Loved it when my former work place installed some software that once you logged in, you could access everything without the addition ID’s and passwords. Wish it was available for my home computer.

Having to come up with a new never used password gets harder each time.

That’s why Pluggers have Rolodexes. [Explain Rolodex to your grandkids]

My father in law forgot his football pool site password. He clicked the “forgot password” link but the reply didn’t come immediately, so he clicked it a few more times. Then they called Time Warner and filed a service ticket because their email was ‘broken!’ All this while calling me, my brother-in-law, my sons, my wife, like it was the end of the world. They went away that weekend, so my wife and I stopped by to look at it without them there. I clicked the reset password link. OK, it didn’t come for the 20 minutes we were there. I checked his spam folder, nothing. I DID see the support ticket from Time Warner! Then I looked at his deleted emails. Here were SEVEN “Reset your password” emails from the site that he had deleted without even opening! We called them when they got home. I asked WHY he deleted the emails without even looking at them. He said “You told me never to reply to anyone looking for my password!” I’m like “YOU REQUESTED THE CHANGE!” Then I said “you’ll get a new one soon, DON”T delete it. Follow the link and pick a new password." A while later my mother-in-law calls and asks where they can buy a new keyboard. They website wants ‘special characters’ and they need to get a new keyboard. (I kid you not!) I scream at her "His new password is ‘Football1!’: She’s like “how do you know that?” and I’m almost weeping at this point, "That’s what you’re going to type in as the password… Capital F, ootball, 1, " That meets all the requirements Uppercase, lowercase, number special character." This is the same guy who used to just turn the power switch off all the time, causing all sorts of problems, until I told him to just leave it on. Fast forward to a power failure, and his computer ’won’t work!’ I’m like “did you turn it on?” “How do I do that?” SMH!

Please get a “password repository” app. There’s not much problem with automated sites doing the “forgot password”. Unfortunately, that attitude tends to carry over to work, where an IT person may have to make a special effort to reset your password. Also, it’s getting harder and harder to reset your passwords online because it’s one of the methods used by hackers for access.

A good cartoon might say “You’re a plugger if you keep your super secret secure passwords in a binder right next to the computer”

In 2022, there’s no reason to still be doing this (or post-its for that matter) - find a password manager and use it … Lastpass … Bitwarden … keepass (just to name 3) use one of them, you won’t need post-its again

My loving late wife always said “Honey, I forgot my password”. Sadly the fingerprint feature on her phone wouldn’t recognize her fingerprint because of too many injuries to her hands. She was a pet groomer and always getting scratches and cuts.

You’re a Plugger if you enter a chat room and forget what you were going to say. Hmm, maybe a cup of coffee and a muffin would help.

Might actually be a good policy to reset every password every time…

Reason I write them down in a spiral notebook and keep it in the drawer in the desk I keep my computer on.

Here’s a strategy that works for me. Choose a book then a page in that book at random. Create the password using the first word on the page + the page number + the last word [or some other combination of your choosing]. Thus all your passwords will be surreptitiously stored in that book and easily retrieved yet virtually impossible for a hacker to figure out. It can be taken a step farther by creating a list of page numbers and accounts stored well away from and with no reference to the book title which is stored only in your mind. It sounds a bit complicated but in practice, is quite simple to orchestrate.

All my passwords are on a memory stick (yes, I keep a backup stick) that I can go to almost any computer and navigate. I only plug in the stick when I need to look up my passwords. The file name I keep them under is a secret I won’t tell. I clip it to an inner zipper in my flight bag when I travel.

WurX4mE

get a mac, Safari will remember them

I have a password manger, without it, life would be frustrating, well more frustrating, anyway.