By Kevin Purdy, Lifehacker – April 22, 2010 at 11:00AM
You want to use secure passwords, but you can’t remember random numbers and letters. You’d also like a fail-safe plan, in case your computer password system goes bad. PasswordCard provides the best of both worlds, offering strong passwords with a wallet-based backup.
The PasswordCard itself is printed in color, and has different symbols heading each column, and a different color for each row. You generate the card’s random characters by typing a number into the field above the card and generating it anew. Store that number printout somewhere very safe—a fireproof safe in a deep closet, perhaps—and put the PasswordCard in your wallet. It might take some time to get used to “Note symbol, green” being how you remember where to find your iTunes password, or “Smiley face, purple” for Facebook, but it’s a secure system, and even if your wallet is lost or stolen, it’s useless to the thief without your number, or knowing your exact scheme.
PasswordCard is free to use. For a double-check on how secure its password suggestions are, read up on how a hacker would break your weak passwords.