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Below is a 6 step method to creating a strong, good quality, easy to remember password!  Our method is easy to remember, just think the ‘S and 5 C’s’ method!

1. Sentence – Think of a personal sentence of phrase that you find really easy to remember, e.g. I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars.  This is known as a pass phrase.
2. Compatibility – Some systems, whether it be on the computer or online, may not allow spaces in your password.  If the system you’re using does allow for spaces use the pass phrase from step one and move to step 4.  If not then move to step3.
3. Conversion – If the system doesn’t allow for spaces convert the phrase.  For example, take all the first letters from your pass phrase to make a word, e.g. ‘I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars’ changes to ‘ihtpratb’.
4. Complicate things – Make the password harder to guess by varying between upper and lower case letters and throw in the odd number too.  For example, your pass phrase could change from this  ‘I have three pet rabbits and two budgerigars’ to ‘I hAvE 3 pEt RaBbItS aNd 2 BuDgErIgArS’ or your converted pass phrase could change from this ‘ihtpratb’ to ‘Ih3PrA2b’.
5. Characters – Now try to replace any words, letters or numbers with symbols and alternative characters.  For example, your pass phrase could start as ‘I hAvE 3 pEt RaBbItS aNd 2 BuDgErIgArS’ and change to ‘! h@v£ 3 p£t R@BbIt$ & 2 BuDgEr!g@r$’ or your converted pass phrase could start as ‘Ih3PrA2b’ and change to ‘!h3Pr&2b’.
6. Check – Finally, check the strength of your password using the Windows Password Checker.  The stronger the better!

Over the next few weeks we’re doing a series on passwords!  It is always important to have a good password.  Having a strong password makes it even harder for any hacker to get into your private accounts and information, etc.

Here are some good ways to ensure you have a good quality password:

• Length – It is ideal to have a long password.  By long we mean at least 8 letters long but if possible even longer!  Generally, the longer it is the harder it is the hack.  Many systems now also allow for spaces in your password.  Therefore it may be a good idea to invent a long phrase rather than a word.
• Use the whole keyboard – It is a great idea to use letters, numbers and symbols in your password.  The greater the variety of keys the harder it is for an attacker to break into your account.  Surveys have shown that having a 15 character password using both letters and numbers is far stronger than having an 8 character password with just letters.  In fact it’s 33,000 times stronger!
• Make it memorable – It is essential that your password is really easy for you to remember!  However, it is also essential that other people, even your friends, wont be able to guess it easily!

Finally, check out the quality of your password with the Microsoft Password Checker!

We’ve now come to the end of our Antivirus Comparison Series.  To finish everything off we’re going to give each software a rating and a rank….

Software	Rating	Rank
		6
		7
		3
		4
		2
		5
		1

From all our investigations over the past few weeks we can conclude in our opinion AVG Internet Security is the best software around!  We were really pleased and excited to see that Avira and Kaspersky have so much potential and are on the verge of being world class products.  Norton 360 and McAfee, for us, were the biggest let downs.  The quality of product and service just isn’t as good as you expect.  In many cases you’re better off going for a smaller brand or AVG!  All software used in the comparisons were the best available home software from the brand at the time of writing.

I think the interesting and most important thing to take from the investigation is that the two biggest household names are rated as last.  Consequently this whole survey really asks this question…’do the big name brands always provide  the best service and product?’

Want to find out more?  Check out the original comparison articles:

• Norton 360 vs AVG Internet Security
• McAfee Total Protection vs AVG Internet Security
• Trend Micro Internet Security Pro vs AVG Internet Security
• Avira Premium Security Suite vs AVG Internet Security
• avast! Professional Edition vs AVG Internet Security
• Kaspersky Internet Security vs AVG Internet Security

Over the past month we have been comparing antivirus software.  Below is a table which summaries our findings!  We’ve put all the results into percentages to make everything fair!

	Alternative Software %	AVG % in Comparison
	64%	86%
	63%	88%
	75%	94%
	69%	88%
	77%	82%
	67%	90%

As you can see from the table, AVG is by far the superior antivirus software when compared to the others.  Throughout the entire comparison process we were very impressed with the potential of some of the lesser known software like Avira and Kaspersky.  In a few years time they could really be battling with the rest!  Look out for our ratings table in coming weeks!

Google is developing an operating system (OS) for personal computers, in a direct challenge to market leader Microsoft and its Windows system.

Google Chrome OS will be aimed initially at small, low-cost netbooks, but will eventually be used on PC’s as well.

Google said netbooks with Chrome OS could be on sale by middle 2010.

“Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS,” the firm said in its official blog.

The operating system, which will run on an open source license, was a “natural extension” of its Chrome browser, the firm said.

The news comes just months before Microsoft launches the latest version of its operating system, called Windows 7.

To continue reading this article on the BBC click here

Watch this space!!

As you can see from the pie chart above Facebook chat is more popular with our readers than MSN.  Is this a sign that MSN is on its last legs and will soon be unused by many?

Don’t forget to vote on this months poll…’How many computers are in your house/office?’