How to Create and Use a Strong Password

            It is important to have a strong password in order to prevent criminals from hacking into your system. A password should appear to be a random string of characters. A password should be lengthy. Each character that you add to your password increases the protection more and more. A password should be more than eight characters in length. Fourteen characters is ideal. Many systems also support the space bar as a character. This is helpful in using phrases as passwords. A phrase is easier to remember than a simple word, and it is also lengthier, which makes it harder to guess. The greater the variety of characters that you have in your password, the harder it is to guess. A 15-character password composed of only random letters and numbers is a great deal stronger than an 8-character password composed of characters from the entire keyboard. If you cannot create a password that contains symbols, you need to amke it considerably longer to get the same degree of protection. An ideal password combines both length and different types of symbols. If you use the entire keyboard, your password will be much stronger. Use words and phrases that are easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess. The easiest way to remember your passwords and pass phrases is to write them down.

            The following six steps are helpful to developing a strong password. First, think of a sentence that you can remember. This will be the basis of a strong password. Second, check if the computer or online system supports the pass phrase correctly. If you can use a pass phrase with spaces and symbols on your computer, do so. Third, if the computer or online system does not support pass phrases, convert it to a password. Take the first letter of each word of the sentence that you've created to create a new, nonsensical word. Fourth, add complexity by mixing uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers. It is valuable to use some letter swapping or misspellings as well. Fifth, substitute some special characters. You can use symbols that look like letters, combine words (remove spaces) and other ways to make the password more complex. The last step is to check the password on a password checking website. This will check to make sure your password is secure. It is important to have a secure computer password in order to prevent criminals from hacking into your computer.

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