Re: One ring to rule them all

In article <h1cc50$5fh$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
AV3 <arvimide@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Davoud wrote:
Davoud:
youllneverguessthis is a trivial password.

Warren Oates:
Doh!

So, you already knew that. I'm not surprised.

What might surprise you is the percentage of users who don't know that,
or who aren't concerned. I do a bit of Mac consulting - pro bono for
not-for-profits, seniors, whoever. A significant percentage have
passwords _exactly_ equivalent to this: warrenoates. System*, bank
account, credit card accounts, everything. Easy to remember, I'm told.
They generally will not entertain suggestions that they ought to change
their passwords--they fear being locked out. I''m not talking only
about senior citizens, either. High-schoolers, college kids,
computer-science majors... I suggest that they at least use their
mother's first name and maiden name. A few don't know their mother's
maiden name(!), while others reject that suggestion because they say
that, while they can remember their mother's name in that fashion, they
would not be able to remember that they had used it as their password.

Davoud

I tell them that they will have to give me their system password in
order for me to to work on their Mac. But I show them, using my MBPro,
how to change it immediately after I am finished. I also have an
illustrated handout. Not interested. Leave it alone. "OK," sez I. It's
your computer.



May I suggest asking for someone's favorite quotation or poetry. Take
the first letters (or last letters) of the first ten words, capitalize
the first or last letter, throw in their lucky number and any
punctuation mark(s), and you have a passable password. If they know a
foreign language, choose from that language and proceed as above, and
you have a better password. There must be some famous quotation or
nursery rhyme that would serve anyone.

Had a roommate in college who was a skilled pianist. His passwords were
the result of him sitting at the computer keyboard and pretending to
play part of a song. As a result, even he didn't know what his passwords
really were. He just knew how to reproduce them.

--
I saw a truck today that had "AAA Batteries / Delivered and Installed" on the
side. My first thought was: That's a really weird business model. How many
inept people have urgent need of skinny little battery cells?
.

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