|
Featured Sections Headlines Opinion Obituaries Sports Crime Blotter Happenings Country Cooking Wandering Minds Classifieds Birthdays Off The Wall On The Record Archives Church Listings Live WebCam
Edgefield
Square Featured Columns Pastor Williams Tech Tips Carl Langley Editor's Column Dr. Skip Myers Registered Sex Offenders for Edgefield County 2005 Crime Stats Video & Audio Updates Audio Archive (Testing) Video Archive Contact us Contact Info or E-mail the Editor Phone: 803-634-0964 day 803-279-5041 eve 803-279-8943 fax Mail to EdgefieldDaily.com PO Box 972 Edgefield SC 29824 School System EC District Office School Board Strom Thurmond Charter Schools Fox Creek Private Schools Wardlaw Academy Public Offices Edgefield County Edgefield Johnston Trenton Political State and Federal Legislative Contacts Local Political Parties Republican Party Democrat Party Chamber of Commerce Edgefield County Chamber Historical Edgefield Genealogical Society News links The Citizen News Aiken Standard North Augusta Star The State Augusta Chronicle Atlanta Journal United Press Associated Press FOX News Reuters CNS News WorldNet Daily Newsmax Drudge Report GoogleNews Yahoo!News New York Times New York Post Los Angeles Times Washington Times Washington Post |
  Wise
Tech Tips
Passwords and Password Safety By James Wise web posted October 19, 2009 TECH TIPS – In the world of computers, passwords are like the key to your house. Passwords are used for logging on to your computer, checking your email, logging on to various websites including banking sites. With your password, other people could read your mail, send mail or other updates as if they were you, access personal and financial information. It is very important to use good passwords that only you know. Of course it is also important to remember those passwords. Today, we’ll cover a few recommendations for passwords and introduce one free password manager program (KeePass) that can help you keep up with them. First, let’s discuss some general guidelines and suggestions 1) I would suggest using a password for logging on to your system (e.g. a Windows password). There are a number of good reasons for this. If you aren’t using a password now and need to set one up, you can try hitting CTRL+ALT+DEL and using the “change password” option. If you need help with how to setup a logon password, please just email me (EdgefieldTechHelp@gmail.com) and I’ll be happy to help. 2) Use good passwords. Don’t use something anyone could guess like your name or the name of someone close to you, your birthday, etc… Ideally, don’t use real words at all. 3) For extra protection, use a combination of at least 8 mixed case letters, numbers, and special characters in your passwords. For example, “U5!xtzH2” 4) Don’t use the same password for multiple accounts. This way, if one password is somehow compromised, the potential damage is limited. 5) Change all of your passwords with some frequency (i.e. every 3 months). And when I say change, I mean to something completely new, not just adding 1 to the end of the password. 6) Don’t write down your password in an unsecure location. Too often, I’ve seen people write a password down and put it under the keyboard or even on a sticky note on the monitor. If your computer is in a bank vault and no one else has access to it, this may be okay but obviously there can be problems otherwise. 7) Don’t share your password with others. If there is some reason you absolutely have to do this, be very careful about what you share with who and change the password when possible. So, how do you keep up with all these random and unique passwords? There are several options here. I’ve heard some people suggest writing them down and putting them in your wallet. That is okay but I worry about losing my wallet. You could store them in a document on your computer but then what happens if someone is able to access your computer somehow and obtain that document? Personally, I think the best solution might be to use “password manager” software. I use a free program for this called KeePass which is a favorite for many people. You can find information about this program and download it from http://keepass.info/. Basically, you create a new database using file, new (make sure you have a backup copy of this file). Then, you establish one “master password” to access the passwords in the program and you create entries for all the various passwords you have. When you need to use a username/password, you can read it from this list, drag it to a username/password box on a web page. One feature I like is “auto type”. With this, you can open a web site from KeePass and then press CTRL+V to send the username and password to that site. KeePass can also suggest a secure password for you very easily by simply pressing the “generate a password” button next to password box when creating a new entry. In a future tech tip, we’ll take a much more detailed look at this program. So stay tuned and keep your doors locked with good password usage! © Copyright 2009
EdgefieldDaily.com All
original material is property of
EdgefieldDaily.com and cannot be reproduced, rewritten or redistributed
without the expressed written permission of Edgefield Daily.com
|
NOTICE:
We still need recipes for Cooking Section WEBNEWS – Send in your favorite or favorites. There is no limit to the number of recipes you can send in. With the Editor’s wife being the driving force behind her own personal section, help her create an exchange of local favorites, home cooking, grilling, sauces, and deserts! Send in your submissions here. |
