Do You Know Your Blog Login Details?

It astounds me how many people don’t know their own login details. Or they think they know them, but it turns out they don’t.

When I provide support for my plugins and themes, it’s fairly common that I need to ask for login details to someone’s blog. I need to check their settings or do debugging on their specific set up. Sometimes people create a new account for me, but other times they just give me their account details. Either one is fine. But I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a conversation like this:

Me: Can you please give me login details so I can look into this more?

Customer: Yeah, no problem! Here they are:
username: fabulousgirl
password: GigglesAndPopsicles5932

Me: I just tried those details and they’re not working. πŸ™ Can you please check again?

Customer: Sorry! The password is actually: RainbowsAndCorndogs230597

Me: That’s not working either. πŸ™ It says the username is invalid.

Customer: Oops! The username is actually: lilly

This completely blows my mind. What happens if you get logged out of your blog and then you don’t know the details to get back in? What happens when you try to login 5 times with the wrong details and get banned from your own account?!?

Tools to help you remember your passwords

If you have trouble remembering login details, it’s time to make a change. Luckily, I have two awesome recommendations for you:

LastPass

Simplify Your Life. Lastpass remembers your passwords so that you can focus on the more important things in life.

Learn More about LassPass

1Password

1Password - Put passwords in their place

Learn More about 1Password

How about you, are you confident that you know your login details?

Do you use a password management system like LastPass or 1Password?

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I'm a 30-something California girl living in England (I fell in love with a Brit!). My three great passions are: books, coding, and fitness. more »

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54 comments

  1. I’m actually kind of bad because I use the same password for everything. At this point, I just blog, email and tweet so it’s no big deal but I know when I get older, things like bank accounts are going to need a heavily guarded password so I don’t get hacked or something. I’m probably going to use that LastPass thing because I have a TERRIBLE memory

    Nova @ Out of Time recently posted: ARC Review: Soulprint - Megan Miranda
    1. You should! Even though blog, email, and tweet aren’t a “big deal” compared to banking in terms of consequences, they’re still a big deal to YOU.

      I mean, imagine waking up one day and being unable to login to your blog.
      Or your email.
      Or both.
      Because if they have one, they have them all.

      And if you can’t login to your blog or your email, that means you can’t recover your blog password via email!

      What would you do then?

      LastPass will allow you to choose different, complex passwords for every single site. That will make all your accounts practically impossible to brute force or guess.

  2. Well, I wouldn’t say I’m CONFIDENT that I know them… πŸ˜€ Nah, I think I’m fine actually. My blog password is more complicated than the one I’m using for online banking because I’m so paranoid someone would hurt my baby haha

    I’m not using a password management system (though I used to use some app on my phone to remember bank PINs before the iPhone software update deleted all the data from my phone). It would probably make things easier, but I’m just not comfortable with someone storing my passwords.

    Vlora recently posted: 21 Random Facts About Me
    1. Well the thing about these apps is that you’re not actually giving your passwords to them.

      With 1Password, nobody but you has access. It’s just an application you install on your computer. And, they’re not even stored in plain text. They’re encrypted. That means if someone were to get on your computer, they can’t even get at your 1Password “vault” without your “master password”.

      As for LastPass, the passwords are stored on a company’s server, so in that sense you are giving them to someone to store. BUT, they are again encrypted. So the company can’t even see what your passwords are unless they have your master password, which decrypts the passwords.

      So you’re not actually giving the passwords to anyone in plain text. It’s no different from when you login to online banking and the bank “has your password” because you gave it to them. The password is sitting in their database, but it’s not stored there in plain text. It’s encrypted so even they can’t see it.

  3. Ah, great discussion/recommendations.

    I generally make my passwords three different things and alternate on sites (depending if I’ve used the password before and therefore can’t use it again), so I’m not TOO bad at remembering my login details. My blog’s pretty simple since my username is the blog name and the password is one of three “three different things”. So I’m semi confident…though that doesn’t mean I don’t occasionally have to type in multiple passwords to figure out which one it is.

    Amber recently posted: What Is Veronica Mars?
  4. Oi so frustrating when I can’t remember this kind of stuff. For the mos part I am pretty good, I have a similar password for all my logins so I usually don’t have a problem with that. It’s more a problem with remembering which e-mail I used to sign up for things! I have 3 e-mails, junk, work, blog but, sometimes get confused which one I used ha.

    Shawna recently posted: Why I Quit Teaching
    1. A passoword management system like this would also store your username, so I think this would be helpful for you. πŸ™‚

  5. I don’t understand this myself. There are times when I’ve been helping people with basic computer maintenance and need password for something and they just look at me like I’ve grown a second head.

    Ashley recently posted: You may have noticed. . .
    1. Yep, both of these are encrypted. That means even if someone got access to where the passwords are stored, they wouldn’t be able to see any of the passwords without first entering your “master password”.

      If you’re super paranoid, 1Password might be a better option. That’s just an app that you install on your computer. That means only you have access to it, or someone who’s using your computer. But again, even if someone used your computer, they wouldn’t be able to get in without entering your 1Password master password first.

      LastPass is different because the passwords are stored on a company’s server. The benefit of this is that you can access your passwords anytime, anywhere. But, that’s also the scary part. Your passwords are stored on a SERVER, not on your computer.

      But it is still very safe. I started out using 1Password until my husband converted me to LastPass. If he gave it his stamp of approval, then it’s good enough for me. LastPass is also heavily encrypted. That means even if someone hacked into LastPass, or was a LastPass employee, they still can’t get your information. They’d only get encrypted gibberish. They can’t see anything without putting in your master password.

      So I make an effort to remember one, epic password (that’s like 20-something characters long, letters, numbers, and symbols). And THAT’S my master password. It’s impossible for anyone to guess and practically impossible for a computer to brute force. So nobody is getting anything without that password, but realistically they’re not getting that password either.

  6. I’m not comfortable with password vaults. I don’t use them, even the offline ones. I use a kind of mnemonic thingy to remember (actually create) my passwords. I use a pattern. I just have to remember the pattern and apply it to the name of the service / website / tool and here you go. I change the pattern every so often and voilΓ . So even if I totally forgot a password, the name of the thing it is for and roughly the year I subscribed to it let me through.

    AngΓ©lique recently posted: Review: Pray Lied Eve by Lydia Peever
    1. The encryption on those vaults makes me comfortable with them. I make an effort to remember one, epic password (over 20 characters) and set that as my master password. Nobody can guess or brute force that!

      I’d personally be less comfortable with having to create and remember hundreds of different passwords. Especially if you go the whole nine yards and create a password that’s 12-20 characters long with numbers, letters, and symbols.. For each individual website.

  7. For a while I didn’t know mine, but then I got kicked off the login somehow (and it still happens every once in a while) and had to figure it out. Now I remember it so I can log in on my phone when I’m out and about too. But I can imagine how frustrating that must be for you sometimes!

    Kayla @ The Thousand Lives recently posted: Review: Zodiac by Romina Russell
    1. Haha that is a fine way of doing it! I’d just be worried if I ever lost that notebook. πŸ˜‰

  8. I do remember my passwords and usernames for most of the things I use (because I always try to at least use the same username); but for the things that I’m most likely to forget I just write it down.. Very bad probably, seeing as I can lose the paper and then someone’ll have my password, though I usually never write down the website it’s for, that is what I do always remember!

    1. I don’t think writing them down is a bad practice. Usually you’re trying to hide passwords from people who are ONLINE—not people who are in your life.

      But, I would personally be worried about losing or misplacing it and then suddenly having no idea what my passwords are!

  9. I use 1 Password and it has saved my sanity more than once! There are just SO many passwords to remember and if I use different ones for each site (like the recommend) there is NO way I can remember all of them.

  10. I’m terrible with passwords. Actually I know my passwords but I hate usernames. Sometimes your user name is your email, sometimes you HAVE to have a symbol or uppercase. It’s hard to keep track sometimes.
    I gave my blog login info to my friend just in case I lose it. And yes, I’ve had to ask her for it a few times because I forget it….

    Nereyda @Mostly YA Book Obsessed recently posted: Review: I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios!
  11. Ashley just a question:

    Wich one do you recommend best and do you use the free or premium version?
    I love this softwares, i have been looking in the sites but i’m just scared if we collect all pass in one place if they can get hack…they would get access to everything but if they offer a premium…maybe more safety?

    1. Neither of the premium options offer more safety. Everything is equally safe.

      On both 1Password and LastPass, your passwords are encrypted and you have one master password that you use to access all your other passwords. That means if someone does get on your computer and open 1Password or LastPass, they can’t actually see ANYTHING without putting in your master password first. Even a hacker can’t steal your passwords because they’re encrypted and you can’t decrypt them without the master password.

      I personally use LastPass. The benefit of it is that it’s not installed on your computer; it’s a website. Your data is still saved encrypted like I explained before, but the benefit is that you can access your passwords anywhere. If you don’t want or need that specific ‘feature’ then 1Password is equally good.

    1. In terms of encryption, they’re on par. The main difference between the two is:

      1Password is an application you install on your computer. That means someone has to get into your computer or file system in order to even get the encrypted passwords. Then they still have to get past the encryption.

      LastPass is a website. Your passwords are stored on a company’s server. That means someone doesn’t need your computer to try to login. But, your data is still encrypted. So even if they hack in at a server level, they still can’t see your data unless they decrypt it using your master password.

      So in terms of security, 1Password does add an extra level in the sense that it’s only on your computer. But, LastPass can be more convenient if you need to access your data on different devices, or even other peoples’ computers.

  12. I’m really bad at remembering passwords, probably because I always choose the option of saving it on Chrome/Keychain so I don’t actually have to type anything in. The topic reminds me of an article I read about passwords. If you’re looking to motivate yourself choose a password that reminds you of your goal. For example, if you want to read more often you could put your password as ‘ReadMore2DAY’ or something similar. It reinforces your beliefs and acts as encouragement.

    Estrella recently posted: Quick Getaway to the Galician Coast
    1. I’ve read about that! If I didn’t save so many passwords just for the purpose of time saving, I would try it. I don’t think I enter them enough for it to serve as a good goal reminder. I do use Trello for my to-do lists and blog planning, and I have my goal planning list with progress checklists copied to every board so it’s always on my screen.

  13. Mine are all a kajillion characters long, so I couldn’t rattle them off to someone, haha. However, I do stick with a theme. They’re all quotes (with numbers and punctuation in them) from my favorite TV show. It doesn’t really help me remember individual passwords, but it sure is entertaining. πŸ™‚

    What sucks is when I can’t remember what quote I used for my LastPass password lol. I’ve had to reset that password twice since I started using it, in order to access my others. To say I mildly panicked would be an understatement.

    1. Yeah it helps if it’s a really secure password but one you use often enough to remember. Maybe it’ll help if you require your master password on LastPass before you access any of your passwords (if it’s not like that already). Then you’ll be forced to type your password in often enough that you might remember it. πŸ˜€

  14. I’m always nervous when it comes to password-managing programmes. I mean, what if I forget the password to the password-managing programme? (Answer: I’ll probably sit and take in the irony for a few minutes before royally freaking out.) Or things like that, haha!

    Ana @ Read Me Away recently posted: Talk To Me 56: Bad Hype?
    1. Maybe spend some time remembering a super good master password before you get a management system? Just type out the password a few times a day. It’ll stick. πŸ™‚

      1. That’s what I’ve heard. I was talking to some friends and they have these super long passwords with all kinds of letters and characters. They can’t verbally rattle off all of them, but their muscle memory takes over and they can type it just fine. πŸ˜€

        Ana @ Read Me Away recently posted: Talk To Me 56: Bad Hype?
    1. Honestly, a locked Excel spreadsheet is no different. If someone gets your password to that, they have everything. That’s exactly the same as having a different app other than Excel have all your passwords.

      In fact, a password management system is probably better because I bet the encryption is stronger.

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