Passwords

Ever since we bought our first Gateway computer in 1998, I have fought with passwords; they have been the bane of my existence.  How on earth, I thought, is someone supposed to keep track of all those passwords on all those websites?  I'd keep a notebook beside the computer and write them all down.  Then I'd lose the notebook, or a page from a notebook, and have to make a new password to write down.  Although I knew you are supposed to use a different password for every site, but I ignored that advice and used something I might remember on several websites; that way I could remember it without having to look it up.

If only I had used Google twenty-five years ago and searched something like, "I keep losing my passwords".  About six months ago, I learned that all my passwords were stored within the browser of my computer.  I imagine most of you have known this for years, but not this dummy!  I don't even know how I found this out, but somehow I stumbled onto it and wondered why I didn't at least ask someone knowledgeable.

Well, there is a simple answer:  I was embarrassed by my ignorance.  My "someone knowledgeable" would be my daughter, Rachel.  In the beginning I was asking her questions all the time, and she'd show me what to do.  But she has a busy life and a job that includes working on a computer all day, and I felt bad using up her spare time so often.  I decided to live in ignorance and hope my computer didn't explode.  She had never complained, at least to me.  I just felt bad about bothering her when she worked so hard.

Fast-forward twenty-three years.  However it happened, I found out if I clicked on the word "Chrome" at the top of my Chrome browser, then clicked on "preferences", I only had to type in my computer password and it showed me all my passwords, even on sites I hadn't used in years.  What a life-changer!  I still had an occasional problem, though.  

I use two different browsers:  Chrome used to be my browser of choice, but after I went to the dark side (Apple) I decided to use Safari, the browser that comes with a Mac.  However, there seemed to be some things that just worked better on Chrome, so I installed it too, and now I switch back and forth a lot.  Here's another thing I recently figured out:  If you change a password on Safari, that does not change the same password on Google Chrome.  You have to go find your password on Safari and copy-and-paste it to Chrome preferences.  I figured that out all by myself, and felt like I had discovered gold.

You see, when I learned that my browser saves the passwords for me, I began using the "safe" passwords that are a mile long with letters, numbers, one capital letter, etc., so I'm less likely to have my computer hacked.  I don't have to type them out and save them on paper.  

If you are wondering why I use two browsers, it's mainly because of blogs... the ones I read and also my own blog.  Google owns the Chrome Browser; Blogger is also a Google product.  Chrome has many features on blogs that don't even show up on Safari.  If I'm reading other people's blogs, half the time I can't comment unless I'm on Chrome; I can't tell you how often I type in a two-paragraph comment when I'm using Safari, try to post it, and it won't post.  On Chrome, that has never happened.  Live and learn.

On the bright side, I'll be seventy-seven years old in July, and I'm still learning new things.