How to Create a Good Password

What is a password?

A password is your personal key to a computer system or application. It helps to ensure that only authorized personnel access computer systems. Some systems have the capability to track user ID's and personal passwords to identify transactions occurring in the system or application.

Selecting a good password

Since a password authenticates your access to an application, it is important to select a password that is easy to remember yet hard to detect. Be wise and be creative. It may take you a while to generate a good password in the beginning, but once you practice this habit choosing the right password will take no time at all.

The don’ts of password creating:

- Do not use any dictionary words.
- Do not use:

1. Obvious words such as your name, name of your relatives, address, birthday, identifications, or school.
2. Predictable Words such as days of the week, passwords that are one or two characters different from the previous password.
3. Trivial Words such as "password", "temp", "Eudora" or "Windows".

- Do not use the same password on a permanent basis
- Do not write any passwords down
- Do not share your passwords with anyone

Password Techniques

1. Make passwords at least 6 characters long
2. Intentionally misspell a word
3. Insert special characters if allowed (@, !, #, $, %, *, etc...)
4. Insert numbers
5. Change your passwords frequently