Microsoft tells users to stop using strong passwords everywhere

[niothor]

The importance a lot of people attach to such a topic never ceases to amaze me.
If someone wants your data and you do have something significant online - they will get it.
If you really do think its too important to be shared why the hell is it online (or on a PC to be more precise) in the first place?
Of course things are never quite that black and white, but I can't help feeling a lot of the time that a lot of people make a decent wedge out of talking crap about passwords and data security.

So if my girlfriend want to read let's say my emails there is no way I can fully protect them?
We're talking about things you want to protect from a random thief not from the government.

[Rigon]

You don't need to remember passwords. Just always use the "forgot my password" link and get a new auto-generated one every time you want to use the site. If they don't assign a temporary one, just cut and paste a whole paragraph from an arbitrary web page that you happen have open. You don't have to remember anything if you reset every time you want to log in.

[niothor]

You don't need to remember passwords. Just always use the "forgot my password" link and get a new auto-generated one every time you want to use the site. If they don't assign a temporary one, just cut and paste a whole paragraph from an arbitrary web page that you happen have open. You don't have to remember anything if you reset every time you want to log in.

Don't do this.
At least add a number or a %^& . A paragraph in English is such an easy target.

[Ekaros]

You don't need to remember passwords. Just always use the "forgot my password" link and get a new auto-generated one every time you want to use the site. If they don't assign a temporary one, just cut and paste a whole paragraph from an arbitrary web page that you happen have open. You don't have to remember anything if you reset every time you want to log in.

Don't do this.
At least add a number or a %^& . A paragraph in English is such an easy target.

Suprisingly no, it's not. Atleast for sufficiently long paragraph of rare text. There is rather large number of common English words. 5 or so of these gives good security. As long as paragraph isn't: correct horse battery staple

[niothor]

You don't need to remember passwords. Just always use the "forgot my password" link and get a new auto-generated one every time you want to use the site. If they don't assign a temporary one, just cut and paste a whole paragraph from an arbitrary web page that you happen have open. You don't have to remember anything if you reset every time you want to log in.

Don't do this.
At least add a number or a %^& . A paragraph in English is such an easy target.

Suprisingly no, it's not. Atleast for sufficiently long paragraph of rare text. There is rather large number of common English words. 5 or so of these gives good security. As long as paragraph isn't: correct horse battery staple

This is the problem. Most passwords are capped at below 15-20 characters. That's 4-5 words.
ps.

https://blockchain.info/address/1JwSSubhmg6iPtRjtyqhUYYH7bZg3Lfy1T
People are still using that crap .

[RodeoX]

Following this same logic, I have replaced the locks on my house with strips of duct tape.

[niothor]

Following this same logic, I have replaced the locks on my house with strips of duct tape.

Something like this ?

[noviapriani]

There's a lot of sense in this: hackers aren't going to spend much effort hacking passwords into accounts that are of no value e.g. an account on a recruitment site unless they believe you're using the same one as you do for your banking or e-mail accounts, and if not, then they expend a lot of effort for nothing.
I set totally different password criteria for e-mail and banking/ecommerce websites than I do for less sensitive sites, which makes the few high security passwords I have easier to remember.

[umair127]

I've been writing all my passwords down in a little book for the past 13 years. Amazingly, it's never been hacked into. Seriously, it's the best solution. If i lost the book, which doesn't seem likely, I guess I'd just reset the passwords.

[DannyElfman]

I've been writing all my passwords down in a little book for the past 13 years. Amazingly, it's never been hacked into. Seriously, it's the best solution. If i lost the book, which doesn't seem likely, I guess I'd just reset the passwords.

I think this is very risky. If your "password book" were to get stolen, not only would all your accounts get hacked, but you would not have access to any of your accounts that an attacker doesn't think are worth his time.

[hollowframe]

I've been writing all my passwords down in a little book for the past 13 years. Amazingly, it's never been hacked into. Seriously, it's the best solution. If i lost the book, which doesn't seem likely, I guess I'd just reset the passwords.

I think this is very risky. If your "password book" were to get stolen, not only would all your accounts get hacked, but you would not have access to any of your accounts that an attacker doesn't think are worth his time.

I agree, this is full of risks that just are not worth taking.

What if your house were to catch fire, then all of a sudden you would not even be able to log into your bank account (along with all your other accounts).

[DiamondZ]

What did I just read 
Well strong passwords offer better protection against Bruteforcing,Cracking etc
My password is about 10 Digits/Letters long and it is pretty unique.

[Foxpup]

I've been writing all my passwords down in a little book for the past 13 years. Amazingly, it's never been hacked into. Seriously, it's the best solution. If i lost the book, which doesn't seem likely, I guess I'd just reset the passwords.

I think this is very risky. If your "password book" were to get stolen, not only would all your accounts get hacked, but you would not have access to any of your accounts that an attacker doesn't think are worth his time.

Don't worry, Ellen DeGeneres has the perfect solution!

[commandrix]

This is why I like the idea of using biometrics for everything. People get lazy when it comes to choosing a password but will put up a fight about somebody trying to steal an eyeball.

[Mike Christ]

[newflesh]

Thanks for the 'advice' Microsoft 

Think I'll stick with http://keepass.info/ for managing my passwords

[serje]

My password is always changing  because my online bank account want me to change it every 3 months and use a password that was not used in the last 12 changes ... that's like 36 months ... so I invent a new password every 3 months and after 1 week of inventing it I'm at the bank requesting for a reset and The second password I make i remember .... this is happening to me for more than 3 years now

[Amitabh S]

"Write down your password... Your wallet is a lot more safe than your computer"

-- Whitfield Diffie (co-inventor of public key cryptography)

[Benjig]

I have "strong" password for only a couple of things like bitcoin wallet and email, but only writen on my mind, if you type it everywhere so it stops being "strong", for the rest i have weak.

[Bizmark13]

What about having one strong password for some kind of keychain (with proper backups) that would remember all of the very strong passwords for each site?

Or a deterministic password?