How to Maintain Secure Passwords

February 22, 2008 – 10:48 am
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Here’s a great way to maintain your secure passwords. Check out the link for full details!

The basic premise of a password is that it is a SECRET. No one else should know your passwords. And yes, I said passwordS plural, with an “S” on the end. Every password you have for every site that you deem important should be different. And your throwaway password should be different from all of those. I can already hear the gnashing of teeth after that last sentence, “remembering all of those passwords is impossible! I’ll forget them all and be locked out of everything!”. SILENCE PEASANTS! The Emperor will show you the way.The secret to maintaining secure passwords and still being able to remember them all is a Password Schema.

To create a Password Schema you first choose a five word phrase, our example will be “The Best Five Word Phrase”. Now we head on over to the “Leet” Speak Translator and convert that phrase into letters, numbers, and symbols. What I get for our card credit generator numbermerchant services credit card processingcredit card interest rate,prime credit card interest rateach and credit card processingapplication canada card credit onlinebest business credit cardprovidian credit card application,application card credit providiansmall business credit card applicationaccess card credit mbna online,account card credit mbna,mbna credit cardinternet credit card processing,internet credit card processing servicescredit card debt negotiation,card company credit debt negotiation,card credit debt negotiationvisa credit card application statusciti advantage credit card,card citi credit,citi premier credit card3g audio free ringtonesfree polyphonic ringtones usamake ringtones,download it make rain ringtones,i it make rain ringtoneskeypress motorola ringtones24 ringtones theme,24 theme ringtonesnextel i730 ringtones,i730 info nextel remember ringtonescellular free kyocera ringtones us,free us cellular ringtones,free ringtones for us cellular carrierdownload free us cellular ringtones,cellular download free ringtones uscingular free phone ringtonescellular mobile phone ringtones t,phone ringtones tmobile,mobile phone prepaid ringtones tcreator free ringtones softwarefree bollywood polyphonic ringtones,free indian polyphonic ringtones,free polyphonic ringtonescaller download hotlink maxis ringtonescell phone ringtones sprintmotorola tracfone ringtonesfree cricket wireless ringtonesfree info jamster remember ringtones,free jamster ringtones,free ringtones from jamsterarabic free info remember ringtones,free arabic ringtones,free arabic mobile ringtonesкомпютри втора употребаcingular free ringtonescell mobile phone ringtones virgincheap mobile ringtones virginfree nokia 1100 ringtonesboost free music real ringtones,music ringtones,music ringtones unlimitedreal tone ringtones,real ringtones tone,free real ringtones toneblackberry free mp3 ringtonesfree ringtones for motorola trac phone,free ringtones for motorola phone,free ringtones for motorola prepaid phoneconvert info mp3 remember ringtones,convert mp3 file to ringtones,convert mp3 to ringtonesfree ringtones for verizon prepaid phone,free ringtones for verizon phonesprint pcs vision ringtones,pcs ringtones sprint visioncingular free music ringtonestotally free ringtones for verizon,totally free ringtones for sprint phone,totally free ringtonesinfo lg remember ringtones verizon,verizon lg ringtones,verizon lg vx4400 ringtonesboost free mobile phone ringtones,boost download free mobile ringtones,free boost mobile ringtonesmotorola ringtones w315free real ringtones for verizonmotorola razr ringtones v3nokia tracfone ringtones,1100 nokia ringtones tracfone,nokia ringtones tracfone example phrase is “7|-|3 b3$7 pH1\/3 \/\/0rD p|-|r4$3″. Some of those symbols aren’t valid password characters, so we will have to clean it up a bit. The final result is “7H3 b3$7 pH1V3 W0rD pHr@$3″. This is the basis for every password we are going to make. This phrase is what you can write down. Ideally you only write down the unconverted phrase, but if you aren’t familiar with “Leet” speak conversions you can safely write down the converted phrase.

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Generating the perfect password

January 16, 2007 – 4:02 pm
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Here’s another method for creating a decent password that I stumbled across today.

Essentially, the compound password is a juxtaposition of two simple words, with their letters alternating. For example, dcoagt is a compound password. Can you see the two words in there? How about now: dcoagt . The two words in the compound password are “cat” and “dog”. To generate the password, “cat” is “inserted” into “dog”. But what of memorability? To the unenlightened, this looks like randomly generated, hard to remember ASCII

text. But, remember, this is nothing more than the juxtaposition of two words.

Easy way to remember your passwords

January 14, 2007 – 4:10 pm
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I ran across this article which is a nice way to hide your passwords in plain sight. Enjoy!

IT Dude:  “The password to log in to your new PC is r4eo1ss89″
User: ”Um. Okay. But how will I remember that?”
IT Dude: ”Not my problem.”
User: ”Okay, but there’s no way I can remember that. I’ll have to write it down”
IT Dude: “If you write it down, it’s no longer secure - if someone finds it, they’ll have access to your machine. Do not write it down!”
User: “But…but if I can’t write it down, and I can’t remember it, what can I do?”
IT Dude:  “Not my problem.”

Cool, free utility for resetting a password

October 16, 2006 – 2:22 pm
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I ran accross this utility when trying to log in to a machine I had got off Craigslist. I didn’t care what the old password was, but I didn’t have the XP installation disks so I needed to get it. This site pointed me to a utility that enabled you to boot off a CD and reset the password of any user to whatever you wanted. I found that just setting it to * (which makes there not be a password) was the most reliable.

Caution: If used on users that have EFS encrypted files, and the system is XP or later service packs on W2K, all encrypted files for that user will be UNREADABLE! and cannot be recovered unless you remember the old password again!

Download links:

  • cd060213.zip (~3MB) - Bootable CD image with newer drivers

  • bd050303.zip (~1.1MB) - Bootdisk image, date 050303.

  • sc050303.zip(~1.4MB) - SCSI-drivers (050303) (only use newest drivers with newest bootdisk, this one works with bd050303)

To write these images to a floppy disk you’ll need RawWrite2 which is included in the Bootdisk image download. To create the CD you just need to use your favorite CD burning program and burn the .ISO file to CD.

Truecrypt

June 27, 2006 – 10:22 pm
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This software isn’t necessarily for recovering passwords, but it’s a really great piece of software. With Truecrypt you can create a flat file and mount it as a drive letter. This file is encrypted and you can even create a hidden volume within a Truecrypt volume which means you could keep all your really secretive stuff, like passwords, in that file. On the downside, if you ever had to recover that password, you’re screwed because the encryption is incredibly strong. However, it’s all free!

XP Live CD

March 28, 2006 – 1:41 pm
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Here is a utility that is a little more than just a password recovery tool. With this CD you not only change the password for your Windows 2000, WinXP, or Windows 2003 box, but you can copy files off it, scan for viruses or back it up.

This definately isn’t the cheapest solution, but it’s another option if you won’t want to spend the time building this yourself with BartPE.

Password Unmask 2.0

March 23, 2006 – 3:29 pm
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Here is a freeware utility that didn’t work on everything I tested it on, but it did work on some. Since it’s free and a very small download, then I don’t see that as a huge problem.

You can find this app at http://www.alpinesnow.com/pwu.shtml

File this under, free and could come in handy!

More password management

March 11, 2006 – 12:20 pm
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But this time it’s free due to the open source community! Password Safe is a small app that stores your critical passwords using Blowfish encryption. With one master password, you can store all of your critical passwords to keep them out of the wrong hands.

There is also a Pocket PC version in the works and the regular version comes in several different languages. Remember, you won’t need Password Recovery if you keep it secure and safe in the first place!

Prevent the need for password recovery!

March 9, 2006 – 8:44 pm
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Similar to Roboform, but this is a standalone app. My Password Manager has a variety of features, here are a few:

  • Logins and passwords for websites.
  • Access codes to e-mail accounts.
  • Cellular phone PIN codes.
  • Access codes to computer accounts.
  • Passwords for programs (For example ICQ and Outlook).
  • Passwords for files (For example Excel and Word files).

Pricing starts at $24.95 for a personal license and offers free technical support via e-mail.

www.password-changer.com

March 8, 2006 – 8:43 pm
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Active@ Password Changer�is a useful utility which helps in changing forgotten administrator system password and allowing access to Windows XP, 2003, 2000 or NT operating systems. That’s directly from their site.

This tool enables you to boot from a floppy, CD, or a USB flash drive to recover a password on an administrator’s account or user account. You also have the ability to reset the “User is disabled” flag among other other account flags. Pricing starts at $40 for a single license, $100 for 10, and $499 for Unlimited.