On building strong passwords....

For the regular computer users, passwords are indispensable part of their lives. We use them to access our accounts and profiles. We use them to guard our identities and secrets. Often they act as deterrents against malicious hackers, scammers, identity thieves and other forms of cyber criminals.

It is said that we don't choose a password but we build one. That is a valuable advice for those of us bent on increasing our password security. Choosing a password means picking a password that already exist. Choosing makes for week passwords. Building a password means we create a unique, random yet easy to remember string of characters.

Here are my suggestions for building a strong password:

1) Use at least 12 characters

2) Combine both lowercase and uppercase letters, numbers and symbols

3) For extra security use Unicode characters ( non keyboard symbols ) ex ☺(Alt+1), ♥(Alt+3), ♀(Alt+1+2), ♫ (Alt+1+4) etc. These characters are system/device specific.

4) Don't put numbers just at the end or beginning but also throughout the password

5) Use spaces if the system accepts them ( spaces are system specific )

6) Never use one password on more than two accounts

7) Never reuse a password

8) Never use personal or revealing information like your name, city, girl/boyfriend name etc.

9) Change it at least every 3 months

10) Never reveal it to anyone

11) Google for it to see how rare/unique it really is

Also some additional guidelines:

1) Always change a default password

2) Refrain from storing passwords in your web browser esp. on public computers

3) Always log out from current session, don't just close it esp. on public computers

4) Never use the keep me logged on function esp. on public computers

5) Always delete e-mails that contain usernames and passwords

Greetings...

Hello, World!

This is my first blog, that I make. I am very proud of that fact, since I consider that an important means of expressing oneself ( I think that regular blogging helps boosts your creativity ). I am also pleased to note that creating a blog is just as easy, painless and free as I expected.

One of the reasons I make this blog is somewhat selfish. I intend on jotting down different ideas , thoughts, observations, tips, etc. that I've been thinking about for sometime but never found the time and energy to put down to paper. Now as I am presented with that opportunity, I am left with no excuse but commit those ideas, thoughts, etc. to digital medium.

I share many interests in different areas, predominantly in computers, Internet, software & hardware etc. without professing to be a guru in any of these. However I believe there are things i can contribute for the common benefit.

In my free time I do C++ programming, even though I am still a beginner programmer. I also like to ride my bike, which saves me enormous time and money.

At home I care for a pet plant - Quillo ( a mexican cactus with an attitude of its own :)).

Well, that's pretty much my first post. Nothing ground-breaking! Hope you enjoy it...