How to Create a Password You Can Remember
Edited byLisa Brooks and 49 others
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In our modern society just about everything is password protected. Coming up with a password which is both easy to remember and safe is no easy task. Try one or all of these different techniques to create a secure but memorable password.
EditSteps

Develop a Truly Random Password and Use a Mnemonic Device

Use software or, less reliable but usually effective enough, simply jot down letters and numbers as they come to your mind.
1Focus on each letter of the password. A way to remember a randomized, assigned difficult password, like "tthertd" can be simple and fun. Think of a sentence where there is one word beginning with each letter of the password, for example, "tthertd" could be "terrible tigers have every right to drive."
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Develop an Algorithm

Take the name of the website and then add the last four digits of a friend's home phone number to the end. (Don't use your own phone number, since a clever hacker could try the same algorithm in a dictionary attack.) The password for wikiHow might be "wikiHow4588". This is by way of example only because it is too easy for others to figure out but you would add your own personal twist. Maybe you would spell wikihow backwards. The more steps in your algorithm, and the more unpredictable each step is, the more secure your password.
Combine the Best of You

Choose a favorite number (or two), a favorite word (or two), a favorite symbol (or two). Add the first one (or two) symbols that come to mind when you see the website address or the most prominent words on the sign-in page. Choose an order and put them all together into one long string (for example, four and crazy and _ could change into four_crazy or _crafourzy)
Remove the Vowels

Take a word or phrase and remove the vowels from it (for example, "eat the cheeseburger" becomes "tthchsbrgr").
Use the Keyboard

If your password doesn't use the Q, A, or Z, you can hit the key to the left of your password. Or to the right if you don't use the P, L, or M. 'Speedracer' goes to both sides, but 'wikiHow' can become 'qujugiq' or 'eolojpe'. Shifting things up a key, choose left or right. 'wikiHow' becomes '28i8y92' or '39o9u03'. Shifting up and to the left is slightly more intuitive. Adding the other security measures afterwards is all trivial.
Combine Small Words

Combine. A smart way to develop an easy to remember password is to combine three small words to make a single password. For example, you can use "howstopyes" or "earpengold". If you want an even easier to remember password, you can use words that are related to each other like "yesnomaybe". Be aware, however, that this is much less secure! It adds more security to capitalize the first letters of the different words: "ballzonecart" becomes "BallZoneCart".
Connect the first letters

Develop a password using the first letters of a sentence or phrase that means something to you - like your national anthem or a slogan you have seen somewhere. 'Don't shop for it, Argos it' would become DsfiAi.
Use an Image Based Password

Use "Pixelock.com" to upload a sequence of personalised images and then generate and regenerate a secure password by clicking on remembered points in the images.
Use a Password Manager

Use a password manager, such as "PasswordSafe", "Roboform" or "PassPack" to generate random passwords and then secure them using one master password.
Mix Words

Choose two words and combine their letters to create the password, choosing one letter of the first word and one letter of the second word, and repeating this until you get to the last letter of each word. An example could be:
Words: house & plane
Password: hpoluasnee

Use Year and Month Plus Letters

Use the current year and first three letters of the current month. Then add the three letters from, say, your name. In this case, your password would read 2007aprJoe. Next month, change it to 2007mayJoe. It's impossible to have the same password twice or to forget it.
1
Many users combine a date component inside a larger password. This helps when the password needs to change from time to time. But, remember to never use only a date because lists of password guesses exist and date only based passwords are at higher risk to being cracked than other choices.
Books

Choose a favorite passage out of a favorite book and use a word from the passage. For example, if your favorite book is "The Eye of the World", by Robert Jordan, and your favorite passage is the second paragraph on page 168, use a word from that passage. You can use the word Draghkar. So you would put 2Draghkar168. 2 is the paragraph number and 168 is the page number.
1Mix it up even more by using symbols in place of letters and use capitals, for example, 2Dr@Ghk@R168.
Turn Letters into Numbers

1Think of a phrase or name for your password.
2Type that name using the numbers located on the telephone number pad. The letters have now turned into numbers. It will make it more secure to add a random letter or symbol as well.
Substituting numbers for letters is called "leet". This technique is programmed into most password cracking tools, making it slightly less secure. Remember to make this a component of a larger password or compound pass-phrase.
Use a Hash Function

Use a hash function so you only have to remember one master password. Use something like 'echo "" "" "" | openssl dgst -md5' to give yourself many different unique passwords.

Pass Phrases

Length can be a huge advantage to memorization. If your typing is fairly accurate, consider large phrases from a book.
"It was a dark and stormy night!"
"My fellow Americans!"
"Houston, we have a problem."
Phrases are easy to memorize. The length of a pass phrase has several advantages
The length can provide security even if special symbols are not used. This can help with sites that prevent the use of symbols.
The phrase itself does not need to be geeky, coolness can be fun to remember.
Make good use of punctuation and capitalization to make a secure pass phrase that complies with common password rules.
Reverse Numbers

Think of a random phrase, let's say you choose Scarlet Pickles.
Link the words, so you now have ScarletPickles.
Reverse the phrase, so it becomes selkciPtelracS.
Put numbers and symbols imbetween, so now you have sel8k^ciPt99el()rac%S!.
"Hacker-ize" it

"Hacker-ize" your password! You can use numbers, or even symbols in the place of letters!!
For example, "cardboard shelf" becomes "(@|2|)|30@|2|) $|-|3|_|=.
Wikipedia has a guide to leet/1337, but keep in mind that this kind of password is usually much harder to remember.
Number Rows

Pick a number with two or three digits.
Now look at your keyboard. Find your number, then look at the letters that are directly beneath it.
Let's say you chose 1. The numbers directly beneath the 1 key are Q, A, and Z.
Now, when you create your password, press the first number that you chose, then press all of the letter keys that are directly beneath it. Do this with all of your numbers. Now all you have to remember are the numbers!!
If you want a more difficult password, try capitalizing the first letter of the row, making one of the numbers a symbol, or something else along those lines.
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EditTips

Try the diceware method.
Change numbers into Roman numerals for more security (i.e. iamcool2 becomes iamcoolii). You can even mix normal numbers and Roman numerals. 1i = 11; 1ii = 12; and so on.
When coming up with a mnemonic sentence, try and make the sentence funny or relevant to yourself. That way you will find it easier to remember the sentence, so you can remember the password.
The more complex and longer the password, the less likely it is to be cracked but it is often proportionately harder to remember.
Mixing letters and numbers is always safer than just using numbers or just using letters.
Try thinking of a name (BOB). Now use only every second letter, being BB. Then go back and plug any other letter you did not type. Your password would be BBO.
Take the the first four letters of your name (ex: lydi) and the first four letters of the site/program you are using the password for (ex: wiki) and alternate between using the letters in your name and the company (lwyidkii). Optional: add a set of numbers you have memorized to the end.
If you are so inclined, scripture references make good passwords. Choose a passage you can remember and use the reference for your password. An example would if you chose The Beatitudes, your password could be Matt5:1-12.
You might combine several of these methods and still come up with a truly memorable yet very strong pass phrase. You might use a favorite quotation, song lyric, or the advertising slogan you despise most (preferably six words long or more) and create an acronym by using the first letter of each word (Where Would You Like To Go Today = wwyltgt). You can introduce character-word substitutions, like replacing the 'y' (for the word 'you') with a 'u' or 'U', which would give us wwUltgt. Now your pass phrase might resemble wwU17g7 or wwU1797. Add standard rules for your personal method such as always capitalizing the first character (or the second, the third, the seventh, whichever tickles you), or inserting an exclamation point after the second character (left out for those sites that do not allow punctuation). Now, you would have Ww!U17g7 or WwU1797, or some such, as a very secure, yet personally memorable pass phrase. Using such a method, "Rock on with your bad self" might be transformed into R0!wy85, r0_wY8$, r0Wy_8$, or any number of others.
If you prefer to have a word that has no symbols or numbers in it, the best thing is for it not to be a word in the dictionary, like 'wazzup'. Also, you can simply substitute letters so it still can sound the same, like this: Crazy = Kraizee. This is not too challenging.
The most secure passwords contain lowercase letters, capital letters, numbers, AND symbols. This sounds like a bit of a chore but there is an easy way to make all of your passwords fully mixed and more secure: use one of the above methods to create a password with both letters and numbers, and then hold down the shift key while typing part of it. Make a standard of holding down shift for the first four characters, or characters three through seven, or whatever you like. You won't have to stop and remember where you inserted that pesky exclamation point or whether you replaced the 's' with '5' or '$' this time.
If you say the letters or numbers to yourself as you type them you will begin to get a rhythm this will help to memorize it.
If you are so inclined, references from a faith text can make good passwords. Choose a passage you can remember, and use the reference for your password.
If you can then add a password hint, but make sure it dosnt give away too much information, but just enough to jog your memory
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EditWarnings

Do not use any of the passwords listed above. Because they have been listed here, they are now visible to the world.
Don't use common words and numbers as your password.
When using numbers only, make sure the sequence is completely random and has no importance. It's best not to use any number that is a matter of record, such as phone, address, and Social Security numbers.
Do not use the same password for several logins, especially if they involve sensitive financial or other personal information.
Do not rely on replacing letters with numbers for security. Password cracking programs break these passwords as easily as the words themselves.
Do not simply combine two or more dictionary words even if you think they are rare. Many password crackers try combinations of dictionary words first.
When registering on websites that ask for your email address, never use the same password as you do for your email account.
If for some reason you write down your password, make sure you burn the sheet of paper where it was written. You might think it's safe if you discard it, but what if someone decides to dumpster dive when looking for your password?