Remember Passwords on the Go!

I was at work the other day and I desperately needed to connect to my home VNC server but I couldn't remember the dynamic DNS I assigned it, let alone the username and password. I will show you how to make a "credit card" that will have all this information on it.

With the rapid advances in browser technology, humans have began to rely more and more on the "remember my password" feature of Firefox, Internet Explorer and all of the other modern browsers.

I know this is a little simple for an Instructable, but I think its genius.

Step 1 Start with the right size

Open up your favorite graphics or word processing program and create a new document with these dimensions. I have given them to you in a variety of units, so choose the one you are most familiar with.

82 mm x 51 mm
3.228" x 2.008"
969 pixels x 602 pixels

This is the size of my drivers license minus a couple of millimeters. This is the perfect size because it fits perfectly into my wallet.

I removed a couple of millimeters because it will allow us to do the final step. (Don't get too excited!)

Comments

[Pfarmkid]

where do i get the instructables "worlds biggest show and tell" pic at?

[James Longpaw]

if you lose or someone steals your wallet there go's all of your accounts. I would be safer to tape them to the underside of your bed.

[ll.13]

Here's another idea, several sheets of paper, with random (or what looks like random) charachters, but so that when you put them all together, held up to the light, shows your passwords ;)

[raykholo]

or u can just make a hologram on a card, so that u can only see the "real" info when u hold it up to the light --- i will try to find out how to do this

[raykholo]

idea!!! what if u get a walletx flash drive ( the really thin credit card sized ones, print all the passwords onto one side, and thats it...

[rafo]

This instructable has a weak side. What if you lose your wallet, or it will be stolen by pickpocket. It would be better to have a simple encrypted database on USB-stick with all passwords you have. If you lose your usb - no one can read your passwords. But in this case you have to memorize just one password. Password to this encrypted database.

[ClaireT]

Of course, if you have a real PDA, all your hundreds of passwords would easily fit in there... On choosing passwords: I use combinations of 4 digit (month and date) birthdates of friends and relatives, previous addresses and phone number suffixes, combined with names of streets I lived on or others did, names of grade school teachers, etc. Basically, I mine my past for words and numbers and then record my hints, such as "second grade teacher, Ellen's old address" on the password list.

[Knetjester]

Great, but don't loose your wallet! I use a Bio-Metric Scanner (Fingerprint reader), it was only £22, well worth it!

[LinuxH4x0r]

Cool! I usually keep my ssn # on a business card in my wallet mixed in with a bunch of phone numbers. To the untrained eye, it looks like a random string of numbers

[Goodhart]

Of all the numbers one can have on their own person, that will cause an easy way for their identity to be stolen, the SS# is that number. I committed mine to memory early in life as it is probably the most dangerous number, linked to nearly everything you are, that a person could "loose" or have lifted. Even encoded, it is scary. - this friendly warning has been a public announcement..... :-)

[LinuxH4x0r]

Unfortunately I haven't used it enough to memorize it yet. I think its ok, no one can even read my handwriting!

[Goodhart]

I knew my SS# before I knew my home phone number (seeing as I did not call myself very often LOL).

[jdege]

Am I the only person in the world who writes in his checkbook four-digit numbers that aren't his PIN numbers?

[doo da do]

I had those memory problems, here is a solution that I started using. Most have cell phones with calendar just pick a easy date to remember put you codes / password in, then when you need it just put in the date and wala

[fungus amungus]

I do something similar, but I've used various tricks to encode the information as well. Here are some methods I've tried: - Make the first and last number or letter be extra. "Cat42Bed" would really be "at23Be" - Insert a chunk of text or numbers in certain places. One way is to insert a 3-digit string between any pairs of letters. So "BalloonJump" would be "Bal213lo213onJump." A favorite area code works well for this. - Swap the first and last pair of characters. "WonDerfulP1E" would then be "oWnDerfulPE1" Just be consistent with it and it's easy.

[fungus amungus]

oops.. that first result should be "at42Be"

[fungus amungus]

Oh yeah, one more that I forgot. Shifting the first and last characters up or down. So that "Baseball123" is then "Caseball124."

[computerwiz_222]

oh i honestly never through of encoding it! Great idea! I could make it so that you put two cards next to each other and the word trails from one to the other too.

[dacker]

Instead of remembering dozens of passwords, I use a scheme of using a single common word as a suffix and the name of a website as a prefix.

For example, if my suffix word were, "elephant":

Amazon.com = aelephant
Instrucables.com = ielephant
Techbargains.com = tbelephant
CNN.com = cnnelephant

Unfortunately, it's getting more complicated these days with some website requiring a mix of letters, numbers, and/or symbols.

[w00ty32]

Or,to make it something more inconspicous, use a pic of a loved one/ child.

[GorillazMiko]

Awesome! I like the Instructables thing. I might make my own. :-)