I realize that my fascination with ink cartridges isn’t shared by many of you. I work with them on a daily basis, you probably give them a thought every few months when you have to replace them. Then they’re “out of sight and out of mind” until they run dry again. Not for me.

I see and handle them 40 hours a week. They’re quite interesting, complex electronics in a thin metal strip tacked onto a plastic box. Their designs are unique and their shapes suggestive. I frequently wish some could make better use of them once their productive life is over.

Faith Pearson has realized my imagination. She literally saw outside the box. Here are some shots of her assemblages, courtesy of Make: Online.

And yes, I can name every cartridge in each of those constructions.

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I was recently speaking with the owner of the restaurant where I go for breakfast during the week. He’s interested in setting up a website for his restaurant but has no experience with that sort of thing. I assured him that he wasn’t alone, many owners of small and home businesses lack experience at putting together a website and usually turn to a professional or talented friend or family member to do that for them. He understands the benefits of having a site and has some good ideas about what he’d like to feature on it.

I don’t claim to be a professional web designer. What I do claim is years of experience with setting up a domain and adapting WordPress templates to meet my needs. Because I’m not a rich corporation my overall goal is to do as big a job as I can on as small an investment as possible. Besides saving me money, building my own sites has also taught me a lot about HTML and CSS and gives me a feeling of control that having a professionally maintained site wouldn’t.

Since this project hasn’t yet begun I thought it might make for an interesting series of blog entries: Website design on the cheap from day 1.

Before you can start doing anything about a website you need to register a domain name, preferably one that reflects your business name. Unique domain names are getting harder to find for a .com domain so you may need to investigate what’s available for .co or maybe even a domain like .us. If your business name ends in “us” or “co” this could be an ideal solution. There are other domains that might apply to your type of business, like .biz, .org or .tv. To see if the name and extension (.org or .co, etc.) you want is available, go to the homepage of any domain name registrar to check. Registrars like godaddy.com and 1and1.com allow you to freely check the availability of domain names and if the one you want is available, they’ll also offer you web space on which you can build a website for your new domain. These packages (domain name+web space) are not expensive. We pay approximately $10 a month for our domain package.

Once you’ve decided on a domain name you need to decide which package works best for the site you want to build. Do you want to sell items on your site? Then you should look at business packages that come with “shopping cart” functionality built-in. This will save you a lot of time and effort trying to incorporate payment methods and SSH (secure shell access, also known as “https://…”) into your site.

Do you want an informational site only, no selling or need for secure access? Then many home or personal packages may be just fine.

No matter what sort of site you plan to build, the package you select should contain a few basic and necessary items: only consider a plan that offers at least one PostgreSQL or MYSQL database, ftp access (file transfer protocol, necessary for uploading files to your website) and email so you can have a yourname@yoursite.com email address. In the business world it’s more professional to have an email address on your domain than to have an AOL, Hotmail or even Gmail address. Look over the list of benefits to each type of plan the different registrars offer and pick the one that provides the features you need at a price you can comfortably afford.

So now you have a name reserved for your domain and a host for your website. In the next installment we’ll roll up our sleeves, go template hunting and learn all about the file transfer protocol.

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Image by explainthatstuff via Flickr

______________________

See that line? Looks pretty thin, doesn’t it?

As thin as it is it’s wider than the space between the read/write head and the platter inside a standard, non-solid-state, hard drive when the drive is running. Called the flying or floating height as well as the head gap, the distance is measured in the millionths of an inch. Compare the common head gap of .5 microinches with the width of a human hair at over 2000 microinches.

There’s a lot of good general knowledge about hard drives on the internet so I don’t want to reiterate everything they have to say here. If you’re interested in learning more, a good place to start is this article at PCGuide.

What I would like to pass along are some tips on handling a computer keeping the above information in mind.

• Do not move a tower computer while it’s running. You might get away with a very small movement but even that risks causing the read/write head to crash into the platter, a phenomena those of us who worked with computers 30 years ago referred to as a head crash. That’s far worse than a software crash or blue screen. You can’t reboot or reinstall your way out of a head crash. Once the head touches the platter, especially if that meeting is violent, the hard drive is destroyed. You’ll be lucky to retrieve any data off that drive.
• When moving a laptop, do so as gently as possible and move it as short a distant as necessary. Many modern laptops have a locking mechanism connected to an accelerometer that can detect abrupt movement and lock the head in place to prevent head crashes. Older laptops lack this hardware, and a sudden movement can be just as disastrous as I mentioned above.
• Dust particles, including smoke particles, are larger than the head gap. Keep your computer and the area around it as dust free as possible. Use canned air to clean out the dust from inside your computer tower at least once a month, more often if you keep it in a place prone to dust buildup or around pets.
• Remember that vibrations from the floor near your computer can be just as detrimental to your hard drive as moving the computer itself. As much as possible restrict heavy walking and running and jumping kids from the vicinity of the furniture holding your computer. If you need to move your desk or do anything else that might cause your computer to suffer abrupt movement, turn the computer off. This will park and lock down the heads.
• Many hard drives in the 500 GB range and above contain multiple disks. The heads travel in between these platters. The risk of a head crash increases with the increase in the number of platters.

There are many reasons to treat your computer, whether tower or laptop, gently. The above are only a few.

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A couple of years ago most people in tech would have agreed that the tablet form factor had peaked in interest. It had found a niche in business applications but failed to gain wider acceptance with home and office computer users.

Then Steve Jobs unveiled the iPad and the nay-sayers were trampled by the mobs rushing to the Apple store to buy one. With a single product Apple resurrected a form of computer written off being of marginal use for over a decade. 

Apple’s success with the iPhone has been no less impressive. Fans almost never comment on its usability as a phone. It’s all about the apps, the movies, their frustration with being tied to AT&T. Only recently has the Android begun to intrude on the love-fest that up to now has been focused on the iPhone alone. 

No one can argue the popularity of these two products. Will their popularity lead to greater acceptance of the Macintosh computer and result in greater market share for Apple?

Owners of iPods will attest to the less-than-ideal coupling that results from tethering their favorite music player to the Windows operating system. iTunes is frustrating enough on a Mac, it’s even worse on Windows. Still, there’s a logic to attaching an Apple device to another Apple device that doesn’t translate to connecting an Apple device to a PC. Will owners of iPhones, iPads and iPods seriously consider making their next computer a Mac? 

Windows has twice in recent history stumbled badly with their flagship product. Windows ME and Vista were both systems that should never have been released to the public. Windows XP has been the focus of Windows user’s loyalty for more than a decade and 7 appears to be the worthy successor to XP. But two failures and two successes only results in a null gain. To add insult to injury, Microsoft has required its fans to fork out $300-400 every time it updates its OS. Too many formerly staunch Windows supporters are looking at Snow Leopard, priced at less than $50, and even the low-to-no-cost Linux OSs. While it’s true that a reasonably equipped PC that either comes with Windows pre-installed or that can be reformatted for Linux can be had for less than half the cost of a new Mac, the new Macs are no longer being sold at a price we once would only pay for a used car. If you check out Craigslist in almost any major city a fairly new Macbook Air can be found for less than $1000. 

I’m no psychic but I predict that 2011 will see a substantial increase in new Mac users primarily because of their purchase of an iPad or iPhone. A Macintosh computer will almost become a peripheral device for our phone or tablet computer.

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If I were the curator of a museum of technology I’d include an Apple wireless keyboard based on its aesthetics alone. It’s a beautiful keyboard. The pearl white keys are contrasted by the brushed metal frame. The on/off switch is cleverly concealed opposite the battery compartment.

It’s pretty but it isn’t practical.

From a users point of view, this is one of the worst keyboards I’ve ever tried. The flat keys provide no tactile response and there’s no key pitch at all. It’s not a full sized keyboard so it feels like I’m typing on a netbook, which I can tolerate when I’m actually typing on a netbook. But I don’t use a netbook for more than a couple of hours at a time and I doubt I could use this keyboard more than that. It has but a single delete key and no 10-key pad. It does sport a reasonable price ($69.99) but that’s about $40 more than I want to pay for its looks alone. It connects via Bluetooth which limits its usage with computer that don’t have Bluetooth installed.

I recently learned that there’s a known issue when using a Magic Mouse in combination with this keyboard. Some users are reporting that they have to change batteries every week. If you have this hardware combination be sure you install the firmware upgrade Apple released in January.

Anyone who types on a keyboard on a regular basis should consider not buying this keyboard. Other than its appearance I can’t find anything about it to recommend.

(This is not a sponsored review. I purchased an Apple wireless keyboard with my own money and will be returning it today for a refund. I love wireless keyboards but not this one.)

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Image via Wikipedia

Via ComputerWorld.

Microsoft told Windows XP users today not to press the F1 key when prompted by a Web site, as part of its reaction to an unpatched vulnerability that hackers could exploit to hijack PCs running Internet Explorer (IE).In a security advisory issued late Monday, Microsoft confirmed the unpatched bug in VBScript that Polish researcher Maurycy Prodeus had revealed Friday, offered more information on the flaw and provided some advice on how to protect PCs until a patch shipped.

“The vulnerability exists in the way that VBScript interacts with Windows Help files when using Internet Explorer,” read the advisory. “If a malicious Web site displayed a specially crafted dialog box and a user pressed the F1 key, arbitrary code could be executed in the security context of the currently logged-on user.”

Last week, Prodeus called the bug a “logic flaw,” and said attackers could exploit it by feeding users malicious code disguised as a Windows help file — such files have a “.hlp” extension — then convincing them to press the F1 key when a pop-up appeared. He rated the vulnerability as “medium” because of the required user interaction.

Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are impacted by the bug, said Microsoft, and any supported versions of Internet Explorer (IE) on those operating systems — including IE6 on Windows XP — could be leveraged by attackers. Previously, Prodeus had said that users running IE7 and IE8 were at risk, but had not called out IE6.

Until a patch is ready, users can protect themselves by not pressing the F1 key if a Web site tells them to, said Microsoft.

The security advisory made the same recommendation: “Our analysis shows that if users do not press the F1 key on their keyboard, the vulnerability cannot be exploited.”

Users can also stymie attacks by disabling Windows Help. The advisory explained how to entering a one-line command at a Windows command-line prompt to lock down the Help system.

Another one of those funny-sad stories about another vulnerability in the Windows operating system. These are coming so often these days we’re becoming as inured to them as we are to Windows updates. No one reads all that stuff; we just click “approved”, “OK”, “agreed”, just do it, get it over with.

How many typical Windows users even know what the F1 key is for?

F1	Displays the Help task pane.CTRL+F1 closes and reopens the current task pane. ALT+F1 creates a chart of the data in the current range. ALT+SHIFT+F1 inserts a new worksheet. (Microsoft)

You can also press the F1 key on some computers to access the BIOS when you start your computer before Windows boots up. On other computers it’s usually F2 or Escape.

You know what I find really ironic? A lot of people have been getting after Google the last week or so over releasing Buzz to so many users without fixing some glaringly obvious (to the techies, at least) security weaknesses. And what are a vast majority of them using to express these concerns? Windows. And how many of them are using the latest release, Windows 7, with all the latest updates and drivers installed? How many acknowledge that Windows has released every version of its operating system unfinished and incomplete?  True, there are flaws that only exist because of advances in the writing of viruses and spyware. No one can anticipate every possible scenario. All I know is that I always feel more secure, more comfortable when I’m using the Mac or booted in Linux. Sadly, Buzz is especially aggravating in those systems since everything else for the most part just works. Software updates outnumber version updates by a good number.

I don’t argue that Buzz needed a beta period. Come on, Google. Everything you’ve produced up until now have been labeled beta. You even let us make Gmail say beta in the header if we want. Even if all you had done was add the now-anticipated beta label to the name, Buzz beta, you would no doubt have received a warmer reception. The critics would have had shaky grounds for criticism. Especially those criticizing from a Windows machine.

Let me give you a tip applicable to any version of Windows. It goes beyond the rather timid approach Microsoft suggests in order to avoid a single potential vulnerability. Employing the technique I’m about to share with you, you are assured of never again being at risk for any sort of vulnerability. If you want to know you are totally secure when using Windows, if you want to be invisible to viruses, free of spyware, if you want to never see another blue-screen-of-death ever again for the rest of your life;

Do not press ANY key on your keyboard. Not the F1, not the Enter key, don’t even tap the space bar.

Better yet, don’t even turn the damned thing on. Can’t get much safer from cyber threats than that.

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There are many ways that shareware developers and content providers can show disrespect and contempt for their customers. Some are the result of paranoia on the part of the developers while others are the result of laziness and/or blatant greed on their part.

One example of this I frequently encounter is the unrealistic installation limitation.

Once upon a time a family could barely afford a single computer. It wasn’t unreasonable for a shareware distributor to limit the number of computers you could install a single copy of their application on. They fairly reasoned that in the vast majority of cases the only time you would need to install multiple times was if you were letting all your friends install your copy, robbing the developers and distributors of earned income. Thus were born limits on the number of times you could install a copy of software you purchased. The most draconian of these licenses would only allow you to install one time on one computer. Less extreme licenses allowed you to create a backup copy, and family licenses, usually more expensive, allowed you to install the software on two or three other computers on a home local area network (LAN).

I would argue that software manufacturers/distributors these days need to rethink their licensing restrictions with an eye to the current reality.  In the 21st century, despite the economy, families frequently have several computers. More importantly, we are far more likely to update the operating system of our computers at least once in their lifetime. Recently we’ve seen major updates from all the big players, Microsoft with Windows 7, Macintosh with OS X Snow Leopard and several distros of Linux. For many of us these updates required a fresh installation of the OS and a re-installation of all our applications and software, at least those programs that allowed us to reinstall. No one should have to face the loss of a favorite application simply because they’ve updated their computer from XP to Vista and now to 7. “Oh sorry, you’ve exceeded the number of installations allowed under the terms of use”. Users shouldn’t be penalized for trying to keep their systems current. Personally I’ve encountered these limitations with (former) favorites like RoboForm and DFX Pro. I’m sure you can think of a few examples yourself. I don’t mind having to call and explain that I’m reinstalling on the same computer after an OS upgrade. But I resent encountering the presumption that I’m pirating software and being told I have to re-purchase the software with no other option offered.

Here’s a thought; Make your software able to read the machine address (MAC address) of the computer at installation. With every re-installation it reads the MAC address and if it’s the same (machine addresses aren’t based on the operating system) it re-installs without a fuss.

Developers need to do a better job to accommodate  their customers in the legal and reasonable use of their software. They need to quit assuming their customers are out to do nothing but take advantage of them. Every day there are more and more updated and often no-cost alternatives to pricey applications. If you want to retain your customers and encourage their loyalty treat them with respect and construct your licenses in accordance with the current realities of computer ownership. Alternatively, keep your pricing low so that I can afford to purchase a license for my desktop, laptop and netbook.

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Image by juhansonin via Flickr

Users of electronics relate to their devices through a graphic user interface, or GUI. The iPhone and iPod Touch have received a lot of accolades for their revolutionary user interface. Some users buy their phones based largely on the user interface. Whether your computer runs Windows, Linux or Macintosh, most of your interaction with your computer is through the graphic user interface (desktop).

When an operating system is upgraded, the most noticed features involve the GUI. Apple is famous for their GUI. Microsoft has for years been playing catch-up with Apple over the user interface. Linux users are flocking to Ubuntu, primarily due to its friendly and functional user interface. We have recently seen new releases of Mac’s OS X, Windows 7 and Ubuntu 9.10, all of which focused on a better experience for the user by improvements to the GUI.

At the same time many of us “geeks” continue to complain about the number of “clueless users”, computer owners who don’t understand much about their computer beyond the user interface. It’s a situation akin to the car owner who knows how to drive the car but has no idea what goes on under the hood, no clue as to how to add oil or change the filters. People who mistake the desktop for their computer or AOL for the internet are the stock of many in-jokes in the IT world. Many of us who have worked help desks shake our heads at the stories we’ve heard. We think it’s a shame that more people aren’t interested in the inner workings of their computers or that more don’t take an interest in the amazing things a user can accomplish from the command line.

I suspect that in the interest of making computers “user friendly” we’ve created a situation in which people don’t have to learn much about their own computers. GUIs are so easy to navigate there’s hardly a need to delve further into commands, scripts and other advanced functions.

Even when the effort is made to get users to think more about their computer’s functioning it’s often unappreciated. With Windows Vista Microsoft introduced the User Account Control (UAC), an effort to alert users when a program or website attempted to make changes to their system. The unintended result was that either users disabled UAC altogether or became jaded and clicked “approve” without reading the content of the warning. This attempt to create more aware users failed, so much so that in Windows 7 Microsoft grants us the ability to restrict the UAC notices that pop up.

Many computer users want to be just that, users. They have no interest in knowing why things happen on their computers, they just want them to work the way they need them to work. The inability of legacy apps to run on newer systems, their inability to make their 1999 printer work with their 2009 operating system simply frustrates them as there’s no “fix this problem” icon on the desktop. It’s doubly frustrating to those of us who try to help them by explaining why the system is failing them. They don’t want to know, they just want it to work.

Maybe if GUIs were a bit less intuitive, maybe if computer interrfaces required their user to understand a bit more about why problems occur and what can be done to remedy them  we’d have fewer “clueless users”.

Of course there would also be less need for us geeks.

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Image by inane_spiel via Flickr

Now and then I hear someone brag that they don’t use anti-virus software. “I never visit ‘bad’ websites, I don’t file share and I don’t ever view porn. Why should I bother with software that can slow my machine down?”

I’m not sure how they convince themselves their computers aren’t already compromized. After all, they can’t run a virus scan without installing an anti-virus application. They could use an on-line virus scan I suppose, but can they trust that to scan every folder and file on their machine?

It’s not so much what a virus might do to your own computer. If you got a virus that only afflicted your personal computer, no one else would have a worry. It’s the fact that many viruses only use an infected machine to reach out through email and shared files to infect other machines that concerns the rest of us. We don’t want your lax security to result in our computer getting infected.

Now there’s an even better reason to encourage everyone you know to install and use an effective anti-virus solution. Failing to do so could ruin your reputation.

Of all the sinister things that Internet viruses do, this might be the worst: They can make you an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.

Heinous pictures and videos can be deposited on computers by viruses — the malicious programs better known for swiping your credit card numbers. In this twist, it’s your reputation that’s stolen.

Pedophiles can exploit virus-infected PCs to remotely store and view their stash without fear they’ll get caught. Pranksters or someone trying to frame you can tap viruses to make it appear that you surf illegal Web sites.

Whatever the motivation, you get child porn on your computer — and might not realize it until police knock at your door.

An Associated Press investigation found cases in which innocent people have been branded as pedophiles after their co-workers or loved ones stumbled upon child porn placed on a PC through a virus. It can cost victims hundreds of thousands of dollars to prove their innocence.

Their situations are complicated by the fact that actual pedophiles often blame viruses — a defense rightfully viewed with skepticism by law enforcement.

“It’s an example of the old `dog ate my homework’ excuse,” says Phil Malone, director of the Cyberlaw Clinic at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society. “The problem is, sometimes the dog does eat your homework.”

One case involved Michael Fiola, a former investigator with the Massachusetts agency that oversees workers’ compensation.

In 2007, Fiola’s bosses became suspicious after the Internet bill for his state-issued laptop showed that he used 4 1/2 times more data than his colleagues. A technician found child porn in the PC folder that stores images viewed online.

Fiola was fired and charged with possession of child pornography, which carries up to five years in prison. He endured death threats, his car tires were slashed and he was shunned by friends.

Fiola and his wife fought the case, spending $250,000 on legal fees. They liquidated their savings, took a second mortgage and sold their car.

An inspection for his defense revealed the laptop was severely infected. It was programmed to visit as many as 40 child porn sites per minute — an inhuman feat. While Fiola and his wife were out to dinner one night, someone logged on to the computer and porn flowed in for an hour and a half.

Prosecutors performed another test and confirmed the defense findings. The charge was dropped — 11 months after it was filed.

The Fiolas say they have health problems from the stress of the case. They say they’ve talked to dozens of lawyers but can’t get one to sue the state, because of a cap on the amount they can recover.

“It ruined my life, my wife’s life and my family’s life,” he says.

At any moment, about 20 million of the estimated 1 billion Internet-connected PCs worldwide are infected with viruses that could give hackers full control, according to security software maker F-Secure Corp. Computers often get infected when people open e-mail attachments from unknown sources or visit a malicious Web page.

Pedophiles can tap viruses in several ways. The simplest is to force someone else’s computer to surf child porn sites, collecting images along the way. Or a computer can be made into a warehouse for pictures and videos that can be viewed remotely when the PC is online.

In the first publicly known cases of individuals being victimized, two men in the United Kingdom were cleared in 2003 after viruses were shown to have been responsible for the child porn on their PCs.

In one case, an infected e-mail or pop-up ad poisoned a defense contractor’s PC and downloaded the offensive pictures.

In the other, a virus changed the home page on a man’s Web browser to display child porn, a discovery made by his 7-year-old daughter. The man spent more than a week in jail and three months in a halfway house, and lost custody of his daughter.

Chris Watts, a computer examiner in Britain, says he helped clear a hotel manager whose co-workers found child porn on the PC they shared with him.

Watts found that while surfing the Internet for ways to play computer games without paying for them, the manager had visited a site for pirated software. It redirected visitors to child porn sites if they were inactive for a certain period.

(Source-mail.com)

No anti-virus program is 100% effective. While it’s not recommended to have more than one AV application running at the same time, you can add a layer of protection to your AV regime with an application like WinPatrol or ThreatFire.  Apps like these will alert you should any rogue program or virus attempt to change system settings or infect your registry. You should also make sure to keep your AV software updated and run frequent scans.

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Hotmail users aren’t the only ones who’ve been hit by a phishing scheme over the past week. Google told BBC News on Tuesday that Gmail users have also been affected by the hackers who posted passwords online.

The problem is far more widespread than was disclosed on Monday, possibly affecting Yahoo and AOL e-mail accounts as well, according to BBC News.

Google described the issue as an “industrywide phishing scheme.” BBC News said it has seen two lists posted online with “more than 30,000 names and passwords” from Gmail, Yahoo, AOL, Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail, and other service providers.

The representative said that Google immediately “forced passwords resets on the affected accounts.”

In an e-mail to CNET, a Google representative said that the company had to reset the passwords on fewer than 500 Gmail accounts so far. However, that figure could change.

Despite Google’s and Microsoft’s awareness of the problem, it doesn’t seem that users are out of the woods just yet. Google’s representative told CNET that it will continue to force password resets on any newly affected user accounts.

Like Microsoft, Google was quick to point out to the BBC that the phishing scheme was a “scam to get users to give away their personal information to hackers” and not an internal security issue. It didn’t say how users fell victim to the scheme. (Source-cnet.com)

With all these phishing attacks hitting the major players in the world of email, Google is offering their own suggestions on what users can do to improve their passwords.

Creating a new password is often one of the first recommendations you hear when trouble occurs. Even a great password can’t keep you from being scammed, but setting one that’s memorable for you and that’s hard for others to guess is a smart security practice since weak passwords can be easily guessed. Below are a few common problems we’ve seen in the past and suggestions for making your passwords stronger.

Problem 1: Re-using passwords across websites
With a constantly growing list of services that require a password (email, online banking, social networking, and shopping websites — just to name a few), it’s no wonder that many people simply use the same password across a variety of accounts. This is risky: if someone figures out your password for one service, that person could potentially gain access to your private email, address information, and even your money.

Solution 1: Use unique passwords
It’s a good idea to use unique passwords for your accounts, expecially important accounts like email and online banking. When you create a password for a site, you might think of a phrase you associate with the site and use an abbreviation or variation of that phrase as your password — just don’t use the actual words of the site. If it’s a long phrase, you can take the first letter of each word. To make this word or phrase more secure, try making some letters uppercase, and swap out some letters with numbers or symbols. As an example, the phrase for your banking website could be “How much money do I have?” and the password could be “#m$d1H4ve?” (Note: since we’re using them here, please don’t adopt any of the example passwords in this post for yourself.)

Problem 2: Using common passwords or words found in the dictionary
Common passwords include simple words or phrases like “password” or “letmein,” keyboard patterns such as “qwerty” or “qazwsx,” or sequential patterns such as “abcd1234.” Using a simple password or any word you can find in the dictionary makes it easier for a would-be hijacker to gain access to your personal information.

Solution 2: Use a password with a mix of letters, numbers, and symbols
There are only 26^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses just lowercase letters, while there are 94^8 possible permutations for an 8-character password that uses a combination of mixed-case letters, numbers, and symbols. That’s over 6 quadrillion more possible variations for a mixed password, which makes it that much harder for anyone to guess or crack.

Problem 3: Using passwords based on personal data
We all share information about ourselves with our friends and coworkers. The names of your spouse, children, or pets aren’t usually all that secret, so it doesn’t make sense to use them as your passwords. You should also stay away from birth dates, phone numbers, or addresses.

Solution 3: Create a password that’s hard for others to guess
Choose a combination of letters, numbers, or symbols to create a unique password that’s unrelated to your personal information. Or, select a random word or phrase, and insert letters and numbers into the beginning, middle, and end to make it extra difficult to guess (such as “sPo0kyh@ll0w3En”).

Problem 4: Writing down your password and storing it in an unsecured place
Some of us have enough online accounts that we may need to write our passwords down somewhere, at least until we’ve learned them well.

Solution 4: Keep your password reminders in a secret place that isn’t easily visible
Don’t leave notes with your passwords to various sites on your computer or desk. People who walk by can easily steal this information and use it to compromise your account. Also, if you decide to save your passwords in a file on your computer, create a unique name for the file so people don’t know what’s inside. Avoid naming the file “my passwords” or something else obvious.

Problem 5: Recalling your password
When choosing smart passwords like these, it can often be more difficult to remember your password when you try to sign in to a site you haven’t visited in a while. To get around this problem, many websites will offer you the option to either send a password-reset link to your email address or answer a security question.

Solution 5: Make sure your password recovery options are up-to-date and secure
You should always make sure you have an up-to-date email address on file for each account you have, so that if you need to send a password reset email it goes to the right place.

Many websites will ask you to choose a question to verify your identity if you ever forget your password. If you’re able to create your own question, try to come up with a question that has an answer only you would know. The answer shouldn’t be something that someone can guess by scanning information you’ve posted online in social networking profiles, blogs, and other places.

If you’re asked to choose a question from a list of options, such as the city where you were born, you should be aware that these questions are likely to be less secure. Try to find a way to make your answer unique — you can do this by using some of the tips above, or by creating a convention where you always add a symbol after the 2nd character in the answer (e.g. in@dianapolis) — so that even if someone guesses the answer, they won’t know how to enter it properly. (Source-The Official Gmail Blog)

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