Passwords, Passwords Passwords !

You idiot Dumbo, "your password should have a least count of 8 alphanumerics sequence with a minimum of three numbers in it, which is not similar to your login and does not start with a number and which was not used for the past three times and also which is not so very obvious string for others to guess with at least two upper case letters and with out three consecutive alphabets or numbers as part of the string". this is what my PC yells out every time I give a password or change it when ever I forget one on my computer. This has become a very strict norm to be followed and keep in mind for hell a lot of things that I come across every day which requires a password to access it. There was one last chance to do it right. Else, my gadget would inevitably self-destruct. Sure, the password cue was easily remembered. My mother's maiden name was an easy one. But for heaven's sake, what was the answer to the back-up question? Already, the previous test had ended in failure,Leave alone computers, unfortunately, everything needs a password these days; from opening my own mail account on Gmail,lotusnotes,Yahoo,Hotmail etc to pages on transactions in trading accounts, ATM cards, Airtel site,Bank accounts,Secured sites in my projects, and even entry in to my own cubicle at office. Why, do we need to enter those secret digits on the cell phone to make a local call [8-)] It is a hell to remember the login names and passwords for every petty thing these days. Forgot one! and you are dead. Be ready to face the more tougher challenge of retrieving it by answering some irritating security questions which you are not even sure what you gave when you created the password! I don't know how many times I clicked the "Forgot Password?" link on the login pages, I even ended up loosing access to one of my mail accounts since I forgot the password and could not retrieve it.What I found as a very useful technique to handle these challenges is by jotting all the logins and passwords for everything and meticulously updating it in a single Word file and protecting it again with a password :p to deny access to this file and ensuring the information is safe from the prying eyes of the world. I just have to remember the password of the word file alone, this has made my life much easier.The threat of loosing the file is always there but putting multiple copies online as well as on my local system ensures it is accessible anytime. No more emoticons with their eye blinking posers threatening to deny access inside :)