Yesterday I compeleted two activities that I realized are very similar.

 

In the morning, I cleaned out my refrigerator, making sure everything that I put back into it was sanitized (wiping condiment bottles mostly) and no cooked food was too old.

 

In the afternoon, I cleaned out my browser log. I eliminated any saved passwords, scrubbed my browser history, and cleared my cache. I had gotten into a bad habit of saving passwords for my convenience, and it really got me in a tangle with some of my accounts, particularly my Microsoft logins.

 

I made sure that the passwords I had saved in my browser were all retained in my password management app before deleting them from my browser. I also killed some of the add-ins that I had been using, leaving only mission critical ones like Skype for Business.

 

I was also able to see which passwords are not as strong as my established standard, and am going to systematically address changing them so that ALL my passwords meet my standards: 

    • –16 characters
    • –mix of upper and lower case letters
    • –special characters
    • –numbers
    • –completely randomized
    (Of course, there are some sites and applications that don’t allow me to have all these features, so I have to adapt them as needed.)

    I will now have to log in to every site I go to, but I prefer that to trying to figure out how I get out of an identity tangle.

    Your online identity when you let browsers do the talking; Image Credit: VickisDesigns/Pixabay

     

    I try very hard to clean and sanitize my fridge once a month, and now I am going to add scrubbing and sanitizing my browser on the same day.

     

    I strongly recommend making password housekeeping a monthly habit.