Your passwords are the keys you use to unlock your computer and online accounts. The stronger the password, the better the security against intrusion by hackers and thieves, who could use your information to open new credit card accounts, apply for a mortgage, or even chat online disguised as you—and you wouldn't know it until it was too late. It's not hard to create strong passwords. With a small amount of effort on your part and some tricks provided in this article, you can help improve the security of your computer.

Strong password checklist

A good, strong password should meet all three of these criteria:

1. Over eight characters in length. Short passwords are easier to crack than long passwords.
2. Combines letters, numbers, and symbols, but:
   • Not sequential or repeating combinations, such as "12345678," "222222," "abcdefg," or adjacent letters on your keyboard.
   • Not common words with letters replaced by numbers or symbols, such as "M1cr0$0ft" or "P@ssw0rd". Unfortunately, hackers know these tricks, too.
3. Easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess, and:
   • Not your login name, your spouse's name, or your birthday.
   • Not words found in the dictionary, in any language. Hackers use sophisticated tools that can rapidly guess passwords that are based on words in the dictionary, in a variety of languages, and using words spelled backwards.
   • Not hard-to-remember. Random combinations of letters, numbers, and symbols that must be written down to be remembered, can be misplaced, or found by others and used.

Help gauge the strength of your passwords with the password checker.

Create a strong, memorable password in 4 steps

One way to create a strong and memorable password is to come up with a "passphrase." Here's a way to create a passphrase-based password in four easy steps:

1. Think of a sentence that you can remember, such as "My son Aiden is three years older than my daughter Anna." This will be your passphrase.

2. Take the first letter of each word of the sentence to create a new word. Using the example above, you'd get: "msaityotmda".

3. Then mix it up by using a combination of upper and lowercase letters and numbers. Example: "MsAi3yotmdA"

4. Finally, substitute some special characters that look like letters, to make this password even stronger. These tricks finish the example password to read "M$8ni3y0tmd@".

If you're worried about remembering your passphrase, start with a common phrase as your passphrase, such as "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," then inject at least one number or symbol into the password. In this case, "yctaodnt" can become "YctaODnT", or even "U(t@0DnT".

Keeping your passwords secret

Treat your passwords and passphrases seriously.

• Don't give them out to friends or family members (especially children) who could pass them on to other less trustworthy individuals.
• Don't store written passwords in your desk. If found, such a note, created for your convenience, can provide easy access to your computer for burglars.
• Never provide your password over e-mail even if a trusted company or individual requests it. Internet "phishing" scams might use fraudulent e-mail to entice you into revealing your user names and passwords so criminals can access your accounts, steal your identity, and more.

Change passwords regularly. Ideally, you should create new, strong passwords for your accounts every few months. This can help keep hackers off balance if they're monitoring a Web site that you visit frequently.

Do not use the same passwords for multiple accounts. You should create a new, strong password each time you open a new account.

Don't enable the Save Password Option. If you receive a dialog box asking if you would like the computer to remember the password, choose No. This option lets anyone who uses your computer also use your pre-saved passwords on these accounts.