STEP 1: Choose two unrelated words. No, not Butch and Sundance. Not your kids' names, your pets, your mother's maiden name, your middle name or any word which means something to you personally.
Best way: open a dictionary at random and find two unrelated words 4-6 letters in length.
Example: For our example I'm going to choose "crutch" and "picket" - I chose these at random as I wrote this tutorial.
Step 1A) Decide where to place the Capital letters. Common sense says CrutchPicket, but you can easily select something different to keep it more secure. Such as crutHpickeT
STEP 2: Choose an offset number from -5 to +5. This is for choosing a special character
Example:. For this example, I'm going to choose +1.
STEP 3: Choose letters as your count characters.
Example: Letters
STEP 4: Location. Center, left or Right. Most passwords now require a number. Location tells you where this number will be placed in your password.
Example: Center
Using the example above, we're created a password crutch picket with an offset of +1, and Letters, with the number in the center. Let's see how this all works together.
VISA has a total of 4 letters in its name (VISA). So, using the example convention, we create the password as
crutcH4%pIckeT
The two words crutch and picket, capitalized as we chose to do it, with the number 4 in the Center, representing VISA and a special character +1 from that number 4 (which is the Percent Symbol "%").
Yahoo has 5 letters so the password would be crutcH5^pickeT (The offset for the special character is +1 from the number 5, or the carat symbol "^")
A password created in this manner is usable on any site, at any time, because it is secure, and random. You need only memorize the convention you use to create or remember any password at any time.
(Again, the password is only as secure as you are about sharing or giving out your passwords. The general rule here is: DON'T!)
Each of the components in this password makeup is chosen by YOU at random, and there is no way anyone will know or guess any part of this without you sharing it with them. However, and this is the takeaway, there is no need to write down a password created with a convention such as this because you need only remember the convention and the password is there.
More examples based on this technique.
VISA = crutcH4%pIckeT
Excel = crutcH5^pIckeT
Target = crutcH6&pIckeT
Spectrum = crutcH8(pickeT
Mastercard = crutcH10@pickeT
If you have to repeat a password because the technique dictates it, no worries. Complex passwords are difficult to hack. Our example passwords would take a hundred years to crack.