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Use these tips to create strong & unique passwords
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This wikiHow teaches you how to create a password that is hard for others to guess. Having a password that's hard for hackers to figure out but easy for you to remember is essential to keeping your data, information, and money safe and secure. Keep reading to learn how to create a strong password that you can remember, along with an expert tip from technology specialist Brandon Phipps.
How to Make Up a Strong & Memorable Password
Avoid using things that have meaning to you (such as your initials or birthday). Instead, take a phrase you can remember and transform it into a strong password by replacing letters, removing vowels, or only using the first letter of each word in the phrase. Then, practice typing the password to commit it to memory.
Steps
Section 3 of 4:
Ways to Create a Strong & Memorable Password
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Pick a compound word or phrase that stands out to you. You most likely have several words, a phrase, a title (e.g., an album or a song), or something similar that stands out to you for some reason. Such words/phrases make great password bases because they're emotionally relevant to you, but not anyone else.
- For example, you might pick the name of your favorite song from a specific album, or your favorite phrase from a specific book.
- Make sure that you don't pick a word or phrase that people know you like.
EXPERT TIPTechnology SpecialistBrandon Phipps is a Technology Specialist based in Bakersfield, CA. He is the owner of Second Star Technologies and specializes in Managed IT Services for small and mid-sized businesses in Bakersfield, CA. With over 23 years of experience, he offers expert cloud computing, cybersecurity, and network management solutions. Brandon is a committed community member and coach who leads and innovates in tech and sports coaching. His dedication to local businesses and communities is evident in his hands-on, tailored approach to IT solutions.Use a passphrase for better security. A passphrase is a password consisting of at least 14 characters inspired by phrases meaningful to you. For example, transform the sentence "I eat ice cream in summer" into "!8!ceKRAM!n$umm3R." You'll remember your passphrase easily while keeping your data secure.
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Remove the vowels from a phrase. Following the theme of using a favorite quote, lyric, line from a poem, or other favorite phrase, you can make your password even more secure if you remove the vowels from the phrase.
- If the line includes a number, type the digit instead of removing the vowels from the word. For example, if your phrase is "this one's for the girls," your password could be ths1sfrthgrls.
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Use only the first letter of each word in a phrase. Another option for using a phrase is to only use the first letter of your favorite phrase. This works best if you have a longer quote or lyric that you want to use as your password. To make the password even more secure, include punctuation as well.
- For example, if you wanted to use the lyric "it's a long way to the top if you wanna rock n roll," your password could be "ialwttt,iywrnr."
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Shift your hands while typing. Try placing your hands up or down a row on the keyboard when typing your password. This will create a nonsensical string of letters that is easy to remember, but is very hard to guess.
- For example, if you wanted your password to be "fluffypenguins," shift your hands up and write "ro8rr7-3ht89jw."
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Double your password. Another way to make a strong but memorable password is to type it twice, separating the words with a different character (such as a hyphen or underscore, but you could use any character). If the word has an alternate spelling, spell it two different ways (or purposely misspell the word once).
- An example of this would be "favoritecandy_favouritecandie." The term "favorite candy" is repeated, but favorite is spelled with the British English spelling (favourite) and candy is misspelled (candie).
- To make this type of password even more secure, combine it with some of the other tips in this article. "Favoritecandy_favouritecandie" could be "FavoriteC4ndy_FavouriteCand!e" instead.
- An example of this would be "favoritecandy_favouritecandie." The term "favorite candy" is repeated, but favorite is spelled with the British English spelling (favourite) and candy is misspelled (candie).
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Substitute your favorite numbers or letters. If you have a favorite number or letter, try replacing some of the letters of your password with that character. An easy way to remember which characters were replaced is to replace the vowels of your password.
- For example, if you want your password to be "NeedleInAHayStack" but your favorite numbers are 2 and 7, you could create the password "N27dl27n2H2ySt7ck," alternating the 2 and 7 to replace each vowel.
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Add extra characters to a password to pad it out. If you want to make a password longer but you're worried a super lengthy password will be hard to remember, pad out your password with extra characters. Make sure these characters don't have some sort of significance to you (such as your initials).
- For example, if your password is "HorsePlantLamp" but you want a longer password, you can add some extra letters behind it to make it "HorsePlantLampqmqmqm".
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Add an abbreviation for your password's service. This way, you can use the same base password for most services without repeating the exact password anywhere. It's incredibly important to not reuse the same abbreviation if you go this route.
- Make sure the abbreviation for the service isn't super easy to guess, and don't always put the abbreviation at the front of your password.
- For example, if your password is "N!nja7C0cocnut", your work email password could be "wkmlN!nja7C0cocnut" (with "wkml" being your "work email" abbreviation) and your Facebook password could be "N!nja7C0cocnutfcbo" (with "fcbo" being your "Facebook" abbreviation).
- Make sure the abbreviation for the service isn't super easy to guess, and don't always put the abbreviation at the front of your password.
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Create variations of your password. While adding an abbreviation to the end of your password will help you remember a specific service's password, you'll eventually need to change your passwords altogether. If you're happy with your current password, try typing the password while holding down the ⇧ Shift key, or capitalize random letters.
- If you replaced any letters with numbers, you might switch back to using letters and use numbers for different letters in the password.
- Change your password more often if you end up going this route.
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Combine any and all of these tips to make a super strong password. This increases your chances of creating the best possible password that is both hard for someone to guess and almost impossible for a hacker to crack with brute force.
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Section 4 of 4:
How to Memorize Your Password
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Say the password out loud to yourself as you type it. If you say the letters or numbers to yourself as you type them you will begin to get a rhythm; this will help you to memorize it. However, if you are in an area that is not secure or there are other people who could hear you, try to repeat the password in your head instead of out loud.
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Think about where your fingers are on the keyboard when you type. Try to memorize the feeling of typing the password sequence out. If you remember when you need to press ⇧ Shift or when you type a number, it can help you remember the password.
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Use mnemonic sequences to memorize difficult passwords. Try to make the sentence funny or relevant to yourself. That way you will find remembering the sentence and the password easier.
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Use a password manager. If you just can't remember your passwords no matter how hard you try, try using a password manager. Pick a password manager that uses strong encryption and is available on multiple platforms.
- Some popular password managers include LastPass , Google Password Manager , NordPass , and 1Password
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Expert Q&A
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QuestionWhat is a good way to create a password?Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.I actually believe using a password manager to generate and protect new passwords is a good practice. This way, you'll only need to worry about the password to access the manager, and it would deal with everything else.
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QuestionIs it good to have multiple passwords?Luigi Oppido is the Owner and Operator of Pleasure Point Computers in Santa Cruz, California. Luigi has over 25 years of experience in general computer repair, data recovery, virus removal, and upgrades. He is also the host of the Computer Man Show! broadcasted on KSQD covering central California for over two years.Sure it is! My recommendation is to have two or three "main" eight digit passwords, with uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and special characters. If you only have one password for everything and something happens with it, it would be a hassle to change it.
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QuestionWould it be helpful to write my password on a piece of paper?WikiHowUser20170728202545Community AnswerYes, but only if you have a place to keep it that no one will find it. Make sure you write it clearly so you can distinguish between similar symbols, like zero and a capital letter O.
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Tips
Tips from our Readers
The advice in this section is based on the lived experiences of wikiHow readers like you. If you have a helpful tip you’d like to share on wikiHow, please submit it in the field below.
- Put your last name and then your first name, maybe with another relevant word in-between to make your password more secure. For example, "Falcone24Kelsie" if you're 24 and your name is Kelsie Falcone.
- Choose an important place to you, like Vail, and intersperse it with letters: "1v2a3i4l." This password is short, secure, and memorable.
- Use letters with accents. For example, instead of CatDog, you could do ÄŒåtDõg or ÄŒatDog.
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Warnings
- Do not use any of the passwords that are shown as examples on this site! Someone might see this too, and might guess yours. Make up your own!Thanks
- Do not use any number that is a matter of record, such as your phone number, address, or Social Security number.Thanks
- Make sure you're not reusing passwords. It may be tempting to only use one or two passwords for all of your logins, but you should have different passwords for everything, particularly anything linked to personal or financial information.Thanks
- Never store passwords in plain text format or written on a Post-it note on your desk.Thanks
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Expert Interview
Thanks for reading our article! If you’d like to learn more about creating a good password, check out our in-depth interview with Luigi Oppido .
About This Article
Article Summary
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1. Avoid dictionary words, names, and personal info.
2. Combine two or more uncommon words.
3. Remove vowels or consonants.
4. Substitute numbers for letters.
5. Replace some letters with numbers and symbols.
6. Add an abbreviation for the service at the end.
7. Double the password if less than 8 characters.
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Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 940,684 times.
Reader Success Stories
- "All of this was helpful, my problem was remembering my passwords. I now may be able to keep the same pass words but change them, because now remembering them will be easier because I already know it." ..." more
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"All of this was helpful, my problem was remembering my passwords. I now may be able to keep the same pass words but change them, because now remembering them will be easier because I already know it."
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"I've been frustrated trying to create passwords that I could remember, yet fearing if I wrote them down, someone could find them. This article gave me an easier technique. "
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"You helped me by showing me that I may take the password that I'm using now and change it to make it stronger and safer. Thanks so much for all the help!! "
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"Being an older person - I found your suggestions very helpful as we do not tend to think outside our normal. Highly recommend your help. Thank you."
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"I liked the idea of creating a password that will be easy to remember. The hints given were most helpful."
