One of the keys of the “preventive computer maintenance” is to take action to stop spyware from easily stealing our passwords. Maybe at first glance this does not seem too important, but the message about “a weak, average or strong password” we get when using different services such as Gmail and others are not there for show.
In this article, we will give you some guidelines to create safe and strong passwords. You might already have good antispyware software installed in your computer, and you are already following our advice, and there is still a chance that some password gets stolen, with the very harmful effects it can have in your business or personal life.
How to make my password safe.
We are often looking for patterns that we can easily remember and that are not too complex. The problem is that the less complicated, the easier these are to be copied by spyware. Take this advice to make your passwords more difficult to steal:
- Donot use the same password for everything. This is quite evident, since it would be sufficient for one password to get stolen in order to allow access to your Gmail account, your PayPal, your cloud storage, etc.
- Donot use variations with numbers either. Number combinations are very easy to figure out by a computer programme which concentrates only on passwords with numbers. It is better to combine letters and numbers.
- Use strings that donot mean anything. Never use words like your personal address, or your username, or other similar words. It is best to use something that has no meaning, because a person could not think of it.
- Use upper and lower case. Alternating the use of upper and lower case makes it more difficult to figure out the password. In case they get the correct combination, the use of capital letters would have to be figured out too, since the passwords are case sensitive.
- Introduce numbers and allowed special characters.
Summing it up, the best option is to use long sequence, of 6 or 8 digits, with letters, upper and lower case, numbers and, if possible, some allowed special characters, such as brackets.
There are some programmes on the Internet to autogenerate random passwords, but you can also create your own and copy these to a notebook that you keep somewhere safe, and under lock and key.
