Passwords?

[steve-in-kville]

I got to thinking about this recently. I enter a password so many times in a day. I once kept track (tried to) and I made it to lunchtime and stopped. Between work, personal stuff and the in betweens, I have to keep things written down somewhere safe as all becomes a big blur. Everything has to be locked down and for good reason.

I was thinking back to when the craziness started... late 90's maybe? Up until that point, all I needed was to know my locker combination in school. That was it. When I got my first email account (Juno, anyone?) I think may have been my first online presence.

Do you remember when you had to start using passwords?

[Soloist]

I started using passwords in the 90s.

It’s interesting how our passwords are well designed to stop humans but easy for computers.

[steve-in-kville]

I think my bank started an animated phone line where one could call and get their account balance or something like that. That was a big deal then.

[Neto]

I once had to go to the school office, because I couldn't remember my locker combination. Multiple codes came to mind - from previous years, I suppose, but none of them worked. This was in HS already, and I think we started with lockers in 6th grade, or at least in 7th. I haven't had these nightmares recently, but for years I would dream that I couldn't remember WHERE my locker was, or I got to the place where it was supposed to be, but it wasn't. Or I couldn't remember what class I was supposed to be at, was late already, or the stairs was gone, and I had to crawl through a narrow space, then climb up the outside of the building, to get to the class.

But yeah, passwords. Seems that every site has different requirements, and some force you to change your password on a set schedule, so then you have to start all over with knowing what it is. So now I have all sorts of permutations of various ones stuck in my mind. (I need that space for more important things....)

[mike]

But yeah, passwords. Seems that every site has different requirements, and some force you to change your password on a set schedule, so then you have to start all over with knowing what it is. So now I have all sorts of permutations of various ones stuck in my mind. (I need that space for more important things....)

I couldn't manage all my passwords without Lastpass. (Which has had data breaches in the past as well.)

[steve-in-kville]

But yeah, passwords. Seems that every site has different requirements, and some force you to change your password on a set schedule, so then you have to start all over with knowing what it is. So now I have all sorts of permutations of various ones stuck in my mind. (I need that space for more important things....)

I couldn't manage all my passwords without Lastpass. (Which has had data breaches in the past as well.)

Is that an app? Never heard of it.

[Neto]

But yeah, passwords. Seems that every site has different requirements, and some force you to change your password on a set schedule, so then you have to start all over with knowing what it is. So now I have all sorts of permutations of various ones stuck in my mind. (I need that space for more important things....)

I couldn't manage all my passwords without Lastpass. (Which has had data breaches in the past as well.)

Is that an app? Never heard of it.

I've heard of password managers before - the guy that manages our IRA's encouraged us to use one, but as Mike sort of indirectly suggested, if that can be broken into, then they have all of your passwords. Attempting to manage them myself at least would limit the exposure in the case of a security breach. (I do use the same ones, or slight variations, for more than one function, but mostly for forum log-ins, not financial stuff.)

[mike]

But yeah, passwords. Seems that every site has different requirements, and some force you to change your password on a set schedule, so then you have to start all over with knowing what it is. So now I have all sorts of permutations of various ones stuck in my mind. (I need that space for more important things....)

I couldn't manage all my passwords without Lastpass. (Which has had data breaches in the past as well.)

Is that an app? Never heard of it.

It's one of many master password managers, available as a browser extension, PC/Mac app, and all the usual mobile apps. I have a paid account and run all of the above.

[steve-in-kville]

I couldn't manage all my passwords without Lastpass. (Which has had data breaches in the past as well.)

Is that an app? Never heard of it.

It's one of many master password managers, available as a browser extension, PC/Mac app, and all the usual mobile apps. I have a paid account and run all of the above.

Not sure I'd trust something like that

[Ken]

I first started using passwords in the early 1990s when I was a grad student at UW and working at NOAA where I'd need to log onto various work and school computers and use passwords for email and such.

These days I use LastPass which is an excellent password manager. They had a security breech last year and on the advice of one of my cousins who heads up a branch of the IT department of an Ivy League university I switched to 1Password. But found it to annoying and clunky and switched back to LastPass.

A password manager like LastPass is the only way that I can possibly manage having dozens upon dozens of different secure and unique passwords. Once you get used to it, the software works very well. And you can use it to store all kind of other information like credit cards, insurance cards, key IDs and VIN numbers for your vehicles in case you ever need a replacement key cut, etc. etc.