User names & passwords

IMPORTANT!  Always retain your user names and passwords!

Many times we are  confronted with problems that can only be fixed by having the user name and password, without this information you are dead in the water. User names and passwords are security items and in most cases can not be cracked or hacked. The creators of operating systems (MS Windows, e.g.) and programs take security seriously and create methods for securing this type of info. It is absolutely critical that whenever you apply a user name and password that you keep it in a safe place.

One suggestion would be to have a little black book that you keep all your names and passwords in. You can also fire up MS WordPad or MS Word and type them in and print them out and then file them in a safe place. Any time you create an account on a website, you should always record your user name and password. If you have a wireless network that is secured (highly recommended) with a WEP key (Wired Equivalence Privacy), write the WEP key down and keep it in a safe location. If you don't record your WEP key and you ad another computer to your system, you will need to change the WEP key on all your systems in order to match. Whenever you create a new email account always record the email name and password. You should avoid keeping your user names & passwords on your computer, if someone was to hack your system they could get to all your security stuff and then you are in real trouble. Always keep your securities out of the computer and in a safe place, like a safe or file cabinet! You can also keep your security info on a secure flash memory card, but don't leave it plugged into the computer, only plug it in when you ad, change, delete or retrieve things on it. If you put your info on a secure memory card, you can password protect it too, requiring the entry of the password in order to get to it.

REMEMBER; Your system and information is only as secure as you make it!

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Copyright Alpine Computer Service 2006