Some simple rules of thumb

Some simple guidelines that will help you choose better passwords are:

• A password should be a minimum of eight characters long;
• Try to include some form of punctuation or digit;
• Use mixed case passwords if possible;
• Choose a phrase or a combination of words that make the password easier to remember;
• Do not use a word that can be found in any dictionary (including foreign language dictionaries);
• Do not use a keyboard pattern such as qwertyui;
• Do not repeat any character more than once in a row like zzzzzzzz;
• Do not use all punctuation, all digit or all alphabetic.
• Do not use things that can be easily determined such as: Phone numbers, Car registration, Friends' or relatives' names, Your name or employment details, Any Date;
• Never use your account name as its password;
• Use different passwords for each machine;
• Change the password regularly and do not reuse passwords;
• Do not append a digit or punctuation mark to a word;
• Do not reverse words;
• Do not replace letters with similar looking numbers. For instance, all of the letters i should not be blindly replaced by the digit 1.

Examples of how to construct good passwords

So how is a good password constructed? Try combining two or more words together or taking the first (or second or last) letter of each word in an easily remembered phrase. Then mangle the result by adding capitals, digits and punctuation characters. As an extra measure, control characters can also be introduced.

Some examples of using multiple words with punctuation

Here is a pair of good examples of using multiple words:

• gOt%L0st! - got lost!
• heLP4me$ - help for me (money)

And here is a bad one:

• T0gether - to get her

Some examples of using a phrase

Here are three good examples of using phrases:

• rsKf0myH - Raindrops keep falling on my head.
• wru2rxy? - Who are you to ask why.
• bWiIso3! - Beware the ides of March!

And here is a bad one:

• Aaaaaaaa - Always assert an ambiguous axiom and argue aggressively.

As a final note, all the sample passwords listed in this article are now known, and should not be used by anyone.

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