Make Sure Your System Works
Make Sure Your (Password) System Works
Some clients along with yours truly use a sophisticated password manager. At the bare minimum you should have a paper notebook. And then you should start new notebooks when they get all messed up and full of cross-outs. However, whether manual or electronic, your system of password keeping is not good unless you regularly test that it works. It’s just bad data if it doesn’t work. So I’m suggesting that quarterly (if not more often, with banking and sites you frequent) — you should log into every website you have a password for. Make sure you have WORKING PASSWORDS.
Common websites you need to check are —
ATT Yahoo / att.net, sbcglobal, snet e-mail https://currently.att.yahoo.com/
You should also try
-Microsoft Office subscription / Microsoft account https://account.microsoft.com
iCloud.com
-Your banking / investment websites
-Shopping websites
-Newspapers and publications
**It’s really really bad form to keep passwords in an unencrypted Word or Excel file stored on the computer. You are setting yourselves up for theft. Modern versions of Microsoft Office will allow you to save PASSWORD PROTECTED Word and Excel files. These are somewhat encrypted and the encryption improved in Office 2016 and later. Still not my favorite – but better than naked files.
The Acronym Online 