Passwords = the bane of my life

About 12 years ago Paw was being rushed into theatre for surgery on a perforated bowel and I was called over to the hospital - you could do that in those days. Bring pragmatic as I gave him a hug I asked him what his computer password was - he was in a lot of pain and fully prepped for thratre so he took a little while to think about it - and then the porter arrived and wheeled him away! I said then that he had better come through this or I’d be in real trouble. Fortunately that time - he did!
I have a little book with them all in, but whenever I do forget, I have to make minor changes and I am not sure the book is up to date.
Maybe a job for later today?
As for contactless - is the increased limit of £45 a good or a risky thing? I just know that when I hadn’t needed my PIN for so long that when I did try to get cash at the Post Office a fortnight ago, my mind was a complete blank and I have had to send for a new PIN.
Fortunately the recently reopened Nursery I popped into on my way home had upped the limit so I could buy my £39 worth of plants.

I manage my own OK but Mr. S.'s are the bane of my life. He can never remember them so I've been telling him for ages to write them down and then he'll tell me he's written them down, but can't remember where he's put them.

All I wanted to do was print my current account statement. When I logged on the bank sent a string of numbers to my mobile phone, for me to enter on the laptop. Just to make sure that I am me. But I had just put my phone on charge upstairs. Rushing round like a looney I go back to my laptop only to be told I’m running out of time and have to log in again from the beginning.
I’m heading for a nervous breakdown! Going to ask the bank to post my statement each month as they used to do in the past. It’s called customer service. Remember that?

But why pay for a service if you have an iPad they are all kept in a secure area in ‘settings‘ and you can just look it up if you’re unsure, although it often auto fills for you I also do what you do jennie have them all in (mainly dots) in the back of my diary
The bane of my life are those ‘you are not a robot’ pictures I can never see them easily enough to find all the cars, traffic lights, zebra crossings etc And even when I m sure I ve got everything it says try again Grrrrrrrr

I use an address book but don't enter the full password only a prompt on the first letter or number and then dots
From that I can remember the password based on where the letter or number is and the amount of units.
It might sound confusing but it's very easy for me.
I don't like the idea of using one of the password managers although many people seem to find them useful.

littleflo, I think you should consider a password manager. It's not just about generating and saving passwords but fast access to the password and information you need, when you need it. It's more of a data base that you can query. It stays up to date as well, you edit it in one place. It's also secure.

If you only use one device, as long as you keep the device backed up, you can probably use a free one. If you have more than one device, I would pay for one that is stored in the password manager's cloud and synchronised between the cloud storage and your devices.

You can also allow someone you trust to have access to your password manager should you become incapacitated too.

I only use two now, Too much of a PITA otherwise, and to remind me which is which, I have reminders written down which wouldn’t be intelligible to anyone else.

What has really hacked me off in the past is having to register with password etc. when buying some small item - once it was just one sample tile costing £7.
Not to mention the compulsory phone number when buying online - why?? You have my email address, I don’t want you ringing me.

On the one occasion when it would have been very useful to ring me - I had given my number - was when I had ordered something for express next day delivery - waited in all day and nobody bothered to ring and tell me it was now out of stock. ?
Nowadays I usually just make one up if they insist.

Maggiemaybe, I did it in ten minutes, I couldn't believe it! I transferred all my data, contacts etc, with no code required, despite Virgin giving me two codes.

Initially I thought the sim was too big for my phone, then realised there was a push out border around it!
I kept procrastinating and DH tried to interfere. That made me even more determined to do it myself!

How did you get on with changing the Virgin sim, Marydoll? DH was lucky. His arrived just before lockdown so he went into the Virgin store and asked them to do it. Even so, he has a couple of minor issues with the phone now.

Maddening, isn’t it? Some sites (and today I’m looking yet again at you, Blood Donor Service) seem to make a habit of refusing to accept perfectly valid passwords. I use the system of choosing an unusual two part word for all passwords, changing some letters for numbers or symbols, splitting it and adding the first three letters of the website name, so that you’ve a different password for each one, but can remember it. I’m sure it’s not as secure as using a password manager, but it’s worked for me so far.

I use a book. too. But I use a code so that I don’t write the actually password. Clever huh! Except I sometimes forget what the code represents.

I have just checked and I have 25 sites that need a password but it does not stop there. Customer numbers, user name, answers to questions. Now when I sign into Building Societies or banks, I have to have my phone with me.

By the time I have found everything I need, I have forget why I was going to log on.

I put them,on the notes bit on my phone. Also I keep a notebook hidden away in my wardrobe.

When you make a note of your password, always write down which application, service, website etc the password applies to. Make some notes when you have to produce a password for the first time about why you needed it.

I notice, when asked for a password, many novice IT users are not sure which password is required so start using passwords they have listed instead of working out which password they need.

Passwords are like bunches of keys, you need to know which one will open the right door. However, if you keep trying the wrong keys, the door owner will disable the lock.

Marydoll thanks for that
Fingers crossed and a following wind for when I make another attempt,probably tomorrow morning. Pretty bushed right now.
Thanks again

I use LastPass which has one master password. My OH is a network security consultant and has put this on all our devices, which use the internet, but I only use banking on my PC never on my mobile devices. I also have 2-factor security on Paypal and some other services, which sends a code to my phone.

I keep all my passwords on a Word document which is password protected so in effect I only have to remember one password - which I chose using random numbers and letters

Safari remember my passwords if I want it to . I also keep a note of them . I choose poems I like the first line of and have a mix of upper and lower case plus add a number at the end
. I can give myself a reminder like Wordsworth .

I pay for Dashlane Premium. That allows me to synchronise my passwords between all my devices. So I can create a password on my Android phone and still access it on my iPad and Windows laptop.

there you go Alishka our own Marydoll is who you need at your shoulder to talk you through.

I use Password which is pretty good and only needs a master password to get in. I don't keep the bank information in it though and have no financial info on my phone. Apple passwords are the very devil at times!

My laptop (I'm using Windows 10 and Chrome) just conveniently reminds me to save passwords. If I can't remember one, a right click brings up the saved passwords - so never a problem. In the past, I'd write them in the phone book, disguised as rather weird names and addresses!

Like some others, I keep a book (one of those index ones) and note the passwords in that.

Yes, I know we are advised not to do it, but honestly, how else should we manage?

Password managers are ok, but sometimes I'm using my tablet, sometimes my phone, sometimes the desktop computer!

I’ve found recently that if I put the correct password in three times it finally gets accepted.

I just looked at my most recent communications from Dashlane, and they are offering a 90 day free trial during Corona virus. See here: blog.dashlane.com/making-the-most-of-working-remotely/

I use Dashlane, which keeps track of login details and passwords, as well as your address and phone number to help fill in on-line forms automatically. It will generate passwords for you which are hard to crack, and will alert you if there has been a data breach at any of the sites you use. I got my subscription several years ago, so I pay a reduced rate, but if you fill in lots of login details and personal details, then it's worth it. There are a couple of other competitiors, RoboForm is one I think but have never used it.