How to Remember Old Passwords

Do you know how to remember old passwords?

Hopefully you've written them down on a piece a paper and stored it somewhere other than the bottom of your keyboard.

I need advice on how to remember old passwords like pin numbers and application logins.

One way to remember them is to use a password and then add a few numbers by a regular amount to it, like blink123 and then blink 235 and then blink 346.

Blink123 is in one of the top ten lists of most commonly used passwords. I think it was just below password as a password and 1234.

Did you use a password that was supposed to be ultra-easy to remember? If so, you might want to use the passwords in that top ten list.

And what if that works?

Change it immediately to a password that is not on that list.

I've heard there are software applications you can use to determine the password.

Sure, though you are hacking your own computer. And you do run the risk of locking online accounts with the self-hack attempt.

How else could I get the password?

Call tech support for the account and run through the security questions to get it reset.

This is a financial application on my computer, not one where I can call tech support.

You have to be careful with the personal password hacking apps. Some of them have embedded malware that shares your newly discovered password with would be hackers.

I did not know that.

You could check your browser history for websites to see if there is a saved password in your online profile. You could look for files on your PC where the password is saved for local apps, though that is less common.

What can I do to avoid this in the future?

Use a password you'll remember in the future, but isn't one so obvious that everyone could guess it or hackers could determine by running through the top ten list.