Passwords

I'll think I'll go mad. I must have 30 passwords and that's not counting my personal ones.

To access any machine in the Enterprise I need to be authorized. Trouble is, there is no central clearing house for my passwords. Therefore I need to keep track of the passwords for EACH machine. Now each machine requires a different password sequence. Some require at least a number, one special character, and an uppercase. Other's let you key anything as long as it's 6 characters or longer (but not more than 10). Some password prompts don't tell you there is a limit on the length so they'll go blithely along and accept whatever I type. Later when I actually try to use the password, the system refuses to accept it. Then, when I attempt it several times, using my long password that the computered didn't record, the system locks the password thinking that I am some intruder. It took me weeks to discover what was wrong.

So I've decided to take the least common denominator (which is the most complex password) and use that for ALL my access. But here's where it gets interesting. Each machine has a timer for password expiration. Therefore, I am required to change my password every thirty days. Trouble is, the machines are not synchronized. So it seems that one of my passwords expire every day. I finally decided that when one password expired, I'd change them all. Now I spend the 30 minutes and change them at one time every 30 days.

Just about the time I think I've got it all figured out I visit an Internet site that requires a different password format. Of course, most require a password AND a UserID. The UserID requires different formats. In the end, most sites require me to use my email address as the UserID. The trouble with that is, I don't like giving out my email address. Sometimes I just use a dummy email address, something with an @ sign and period.

But I moan too much. I have a solution. Just trust everyone. That should work. Can't imagine why it wouldn't.

�dave
I have an inferiority complex, but it isn't a very good one.