Passwords

If you've been using my trick for entering sensitive passwords on public computers, please reread; I've added a warning with updated info about why it's no longer very secure.

Read a short and particularly vivid explanation for why you shouldn't re-use passwords.

Here's an interesting recent article from The Economist on computer passwords.

Your best bet is to use a password manager, which allows you to securely store and retrieve log-in data, serial numbers, credit card info, etc. This makes it a lot more feasible to create different passwords for different sites, and to make them all perfectly unmemorable. I like Password Wallet and 1Password, both of which are available for Mac, Windows, iOs, and Android (you'll definitely want the mobile versions - and to keep them well-synched). The problem is that to open your password manager, you'll need - yep! - a password. So make it a damned good one (1% of the population uses "12345" or "123456"!)