Wednesday, December 02, 2009

User ID and Password

I got a replacement iPhone recently, right before the warranty expired. For some reason when I synced it back to the computer, the passwords didn't get restored. I have three email accounts that I can read on my phone. Evidently, the passwords are all different and I cannot remember one of the three. I should probably keep a list of what I've tried so I won't continue to torture myself with old guesses.

A month or so ago our modem died and I set up the new one. Yeah, now it's password protected, so I can't use the wi-fi on my phone at home until I can remember that password. I have a program on my Palm-Pilot that stores passwords for times like this. Except I hadn't entered this one in the first place.

Yesterday I needed to log into my employee express page to print out W-2's because we're refinancing our house (how can you pass up 4.25%, right?). I couldn't remember my user name or my password. I even got the security questions wrong so they have to mail me the info, instead of being able to retrieve it online. I checked my Palm and in the case of the employee express page, I had it entered twice, each with a different ID.

I had to log into my bank's site so I could print out statements for the past three months for the refi. You guessed it, forgot the password. My Palm to the rescue. But it was no help since the password had been reset. It only works when you keep it up to date.

Why am I having so much trouble with passwords this week? I did have the current password stored in my Palm for AmEx so I could pay a bill online so all was not bad. I hope I never forget the password to the application on the Palm.






 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Mom said...

I am not smart enough to remember different passwords so I just use the same one for everything.

just me said...

Me, too, Mom. I know it's not very secure, but it's the only way I can maintain my sanity.

We just did a refi, too... not only will we be saving $$ each month, but no payment in December! Yay!

Anne said...

The thing is, I wanted to make all my passwords the same, but the requirements kept changing, so my simple password now had to include numbers, symbols, and capital letters.

We won't have a payment in January. yay!

Sling said...

I have two passwords.
On for all my correspondence,and one to log into my computer.
Here is my advice;
I know what you mean with all the different requirements of digits and letters and such,having gone through that routine many times.
Instead of trying to remember a password,start from scratch and go through the motions you would have gone through to create a password under those parameters,and you're likely to reach the correct combination.
Does that make sense?
There's a saying among professional Magicians.
'Don't try to figure out how he did it,figure out how you would do it'.
..I'll shut up now.

Arteterapia na FAMED-UFC said...

Hi Anne!

I'm Fatima from Brazil. I don't believe in coincidences and I think I got to your blog because we might have some in common. And we really do. About passwords at least we do. :)
I was just checking a blog one of my medical stu

John said...

Remind me not to play Television game shows with you.

I'm bad about this too. I use two different ones.

My problem is remembering which one I used for what.