Passwords: We have to have them for almost everything we do on the computer these days. However, too often we're tempted to create one password and use it for everything! Why? Because it's easy for us to remember. You have a password for logging into Mac OS X, one for your email, one for your banking sites, one for PayPal, one you use when a site requires you to register, etc. I hear people brag that they use the same password for "everything" because it's easier that way. If you're using the same password for all of these things, you're asking for trouble!

I've said it before and I'll say it again. How hard would it be for someone once they crack your password to go around to other popular websites and try it? Sooner or later they will get a hit and that hit will probably end up costing you money or frustration. Lot's of websites these days require you to register and MacGroup member Linda Stein had a great tip in that you should have a "throw away" password just for these type of sites. One that isn't used for anything else in your life.

My tip would be to have at least 4 different passwords:
• One for Mac OS X
• One for email
• One for Banking and Sensitive Info (soc. sec.#'s etc.) sites
• One for registering on websites

If you can remember one password, it's really not that hard to remember four. You use one all the time because you know that will be the one you have to remember and it works with everything. If you have four, then those will be the ones that you have to rotate through in case you forgot which one you used. Not that bad!

When creating your password you should use at least one: special character, number and capital letter or case change. For example, if you were going to use the word "password", use it this way instead "PassW0rd#". I used a capital P and W and zero instead of a "o".

Now that you're thinking about it and wanting to go change all your passwords, it's probably unrealistic to go and change the password on every site you're registered on. So let that current password be your throw away one. Instead, go to your banking sites and the ones that matter most financially and security wise to you and change those to a new more secure password. You'll sleep better tonight!

Add a throw-away email address, too. A lot of sites want an email address. Use an extra Gmail account. You can always dump it and create another. If you have a .mac account, you can create several aliases. If one starts accumulating a ton of spam, dump it and create a new one.

To help you choose secure system passwords Apple also has Password Assistant that becomes available when creating or changing a password.