This is getting to be too much...

Today I was trying to remember a password to one of my email accounts (I have [cringe] 4 POP accounts and 4 web-based addresses), so I decided to print out my database of usernames and passwords. It came to 5 landscape formatted pages. OK, there is more than just address, user name, password info here, but...still, 5 pages.

Now, there are actually only a few passwords and usernames (I have like 4 of each that I normally use, but there are those sites which provide one or both that I never got around to changing and there are sites where I was being "innovative" by using something totally different) in general use, but the question is which combination did I use for that particular site. The result is a five page compendium of user names and passwords. There is no way I am ever going be able to remember more than a few of these, those for sites I use most regularly, and even for those sites I have most stored in my browsers for automatic recall...which means I don't have to remember them so I promptly don't.

There is no easy answer to this modern dilemma. The need for security measures such as passwords is the cyber equivalent of needing keys here in real space. The same people, or types of people, who force us to lock things here also mandate the existence of cyber locks and keys (usernames and passwords respectively). However, there needs to be an easier way to do this...without using Microsoft's Passport. The last thing I want to do is give Microsoft access to my personal information. I trust them less than I trust the kid hacking into the Pentagon. I need a single "lock and key" that will work for 90+% of my security needs. Actually, I'm pretty sure something like this actually exists, my problem is that I'm not aware of it. *sigh*