Choosing a password is often a traumatic experience for some people.  Maintaining security and remembering your password can be hard to do at the same time.  Here's a quick test:

• Do you write down your passwords? 
• Are you passwords a single word that closely relates to some public information about you or your family (e.g. dog's name, mother's maiden name, etc.)?
• Do you have trouble with login screens because you guessed the wrong password too many times?
• Do you use the same two passwords over and over when you have to change your password?

If you answered yes to any of these questions then you need a password make over.  The basic rules for passwords are these:

1. Never write your password down ANYWHERE.
2. Never give your password to a friend or family member.
3. Never use easily guessible single words as your password.
4. Stronger passwords contain seven or more total characters using a combination of upper and lower case letters plus at least one number and optionally one or more non-alphanumeric characters.

Here is one suggested way to improve and simplify your password management.

Create a Pass Phrase

A pass phrase is usually a complete sentence, verse, quote, poem, etc. that you can easily remember.  You can even write it down since it won't be obvious that it has anything to do with your password.  Chose a number, probably from one to five.  Let's say you picked the number four.  Then use the fourth letter from each word and that's your password.  If a word doesn't have four letters then just skip that word altogether. 

Here's are two examples.

• Say your favorite quote was "The ornaments of a house are the friends who frequent it." and you select the number 'two'.  Then your password would be 'hrforhrhrt'. 
• Or make up a sentence that looks like a note to yourself for example: 'Mary Smith and her family live at 1693 Main Street in Atlanta'.  If you select the number 'four' your password would be 'ytie3nea'. 

You probably won't remember passwords like this, but you won't have to because it will be right in front of you and no one will know it.

Want to get even more creative?  Once you've selected the number for which letter to use, try counting from the end of each word instead of the beginning.