How many web sites do you log into? Your bank? Facebook, Myspace and any number of other social networking sites? Auction sites? Shopping sites? Maybe lots of others too. Every site, of course, requires you to create a password. And if the site is serious about security, it may even set certain rules. For example, it may insist that your password is at least eight characters, or must contain non-alpha-numeric characters, or must use at least one uppercase letter, etc.

The problem is, with so many online accounts, how do you remember a unique password for each one? We all know that it’s unwise to use the same password for them all. And it’s not much better simply to recycle them – e.g. ‘david1’, ‘david2’, ‘david3’, etc. For more information read Passwords used by the Conficker worm.

There is a solution. Instead of trying to remember individual passwords, start with a fixed component and then apply a simple scrambling formula. To read and learn it, visit How to create a strong password?