Password Pandemonium

Password Pandemonium
The digital age is truly a wonderful thing, I love the way I can communicate with people around the world by email and skype (although I haven’t yet ventured into tweeting). I love being able to Google just about anything and find the answer. We’re presently contemplating a move to the UK from Australia. Being able to look at properties online and then take Mr.Google (I’m not sure if this is his real name) for a walk down the street the property is on and see if we like the neighborhood as much as the house is an incredible facility. I can keep up with friends on Facebook, view their latest albums and whatever wonderful things are happening in their lives and share ours with them.As one of our children lives overseas, we can keep in touch by email, skype and Facebook. We can share in her life, exchange ideas, take a walk around her new London flat with skype and feel almost as if she’s in the same room as us.Said daughter is marrying in England later this month. A few years ago, organizing a wedding from 12,000 miles away would’ve been impossible, but through the wonders of internet I’ve been able to search venues, then pop an email off to them and have an answer waiting in my inbox the next morning. We’ve been able view the galleries of venues, florists, photographers, cake makers, caterers, bridal boutiques and accommodation. Within a month of the engagement, everything was booked and invitations issued. Three months later, we’re about to board our flights from Australia to England, all courtesy of the Net. We’ve viewed and chosen our plane seats, chosen the meals we’d like to eat during the flights, booked transport to and from the airports, rented a car, a holiday flat in London and B&B’s throughout England. It’s truly marvelous!


BUTAnd yes, there has to be a BUT…While I love the internet and spend way too many hours trawling websites for any number of things, I absolutely HATE the whole password thing. Yes, I know it’s supposed to protect me, but if I can’t remember my password, or indeed which of the three email addresses I registered with, then it becomes all rather vexed. And useless. And sometimes downright nasty!One site I use a lot asks me for a number. If I don’t put that number in correctly and the password (the one I can’t remember) it gets very snippy at me. And then if I mess things up three times, it completely shuts down on me saying dire things about “failure” and “banning” access!And I know you’re going to say I should write down all my passwords somewhere, and I did, the only problem is, instead of calling the file something sensible like, oh… Passwords! I decided that would be a bit silly if I lost my laptop, so I’ve called it something else altogether. AND I’ve made it password protected…I’m on semi-friendly terms with sites that ask me politely, “forgotten your password?” and provide a link to security questions. Except on one of these sites, I’d accidentally mis-spelled my mother’s name in the security question. Took me months to work out where I’d gone wrong (and I have to confess I only discovered it when I retyped my mother’s name incorrectly) Of course I have no idea how to change the spelling in the original question. Other sites’ security questions are completely useless. One demanded I provide the name of my favorite sports team. I don’t have a favorite sports team, so I made it up. Now I can’t remember the name of that fictional sports team.It’s all very stressful when you really need to access one of these sites and are denied simply because you’re too silly to remember your password, or too lazy to write it down somewhere you’ll remember.However, I do remember my first ever telephone number (it’s only three digits, so not so hard, but it’s something I’m proud of and never get wrong!)So if I manage to post this blog, then you know I’ve successfully remembered my password and/or login name.What do you love and hate about the digital age? Do you have trouble with passwords, or do you have some helpful tips about them?

Till next month – and if I can manage to navigate my pictures album and upload a few photos of my daughter’s wedding in next month’s blog – did I tell you she’s getting married in a castle? (because she’s a princess of course) - I will. And if I can’t remember the password, then I won’t.CC!