First, I start with the title of a song that for whatever reason is memorable (first song you danced to with your significant other, your favorite song in high school, whatever). Remember that you want a longer password, so pick a song title that has two or three words in it (or just one long word - you get the idea). Just be sure that you can easily remember the song title. For example lets take one of my favorite jazz songs, "The Smoke Gets in Your Eyes".

Next remove the spaces from the title. I recommend leaving the capitalization in the title. Since case matters with passwords (in most cases), it ads another layer of complexity to your password. Using our example we would have "TheSmokeGetsInYourEyes".

Now, replace any letters in the password with numbers you think they look like.  There is no right way to do this (in fact not following any set "standard" makes your password more secure), so just go with whatever gut instinct you get. You should pick between two and four letters to substitute. If you think you may have trouble remembering your substitutions, write them down and stick the list in your wallet or purse. It is more secure than writing down the actual password and gives you a nice safety net. For our example, I went with "Th35m0k3G3t51nY0ur3y35" choosing e=3, s=5, o=0, and i=1.

To help you remember you password, try and use it at least once a day until entering it is second nature (i.e. if it is your log-in password, log in and out a few times a day). The more often the sooner you will not have to think about the password when you enter it. If you have to (or just want to) pick a password reminder, I recommend that you choose a reminder that is personal to you and not some easily identifiable fact. "Favorite song on the first record I bought" is much better than "third track on Jimmy Buffett's 4th album".

There you have it, a secure password that is easy to remember with little work on your part. Our example is 22 characters long with no discernible "dictionary" words in it. While it may seem like a pain at first, after a few days of using your new password you will be able to just type it in with out thinking about it (the song title acts as a memory device to help you learn your seemingly "random" password). Making your password complex enough to be reasonably secure while still being simple to remember, so you don't have to write it down on a sticky note under your keyboard (not a good idea, EVER).

computers, security, password, tips