A password you can actually remember
Make one strong password you can say out loud, and know where to keep it.
Your email account is the key to every other account you have, because that is where a “forgotten your password” message goes. It deserves the best password you own.
The old advice — a short word with a number and a symbol jammed into it — produces passwords that are hard for you and quick for a machine. P@ssw0rd1! is one of the first shapes tried.
One more rule, and it matters more than the shape: this password must not be used anywhere else. If the address is the key to everything, its own key has to be unique.
Key points
- Make a long password from three unconnected words, and say it out loud
- Change the password on your email account in five steps
- Let the browser remember it, and find it again when you need to read it
What to remember
- You will be asked for the new one on your phone within a few minutes. That is the phone catching up, not a fault.
- Long and unconnected beats short and clever, every time. The Staying safe course goes further into this if you want it.
- A saved password is not lost. It is behind your computer’s own password or your fingerprint, and you can read it whenever you like.
Try this
Think of your three words now — the odder the combination the better. Say it out loud twice. That is the password you will use on your email account, and nowhere else.
Practice: A password you can actually remember. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.