Generate Good Passwords On A Mac

Passwords are everywhere and everyone knows the problem with passwords. Complex passwords usually are more secure, but more difficult to remember. Still, complex is better.

Even Apple’s vaunted security has had problems the past few years with celebrity photos hitting the web after much publicized attacks to the Mac maker’s iCloud service. What can you do to improve your security? Get a better password. How? Actually, it’s easy.

Easily Complicated

Here’s the problem with passwords. Stupid passwords work. More complex passwords prevent unauthorized access to your Mac and almost anything else, but stupid password do not. It’s that simple. The most popular passwords of the past year include, 123456, password, 12345, 12345678, qwerty, plus baseball, dragon, football, monkey, letmein, 111111, and batman.

See the problem? You just can’t fix stupid. So, if you want a better, more complex, more secure password, the options are many. You just have to choose one and use it.

Visit the Mac App Store, type in passwords in the search field, and you’ll get a few dozen ways to increase your password security. One that I use is called PwGenerator and I use it because it creates great passwords and it’s dirt cheap. There may not be an easier way to create a complex password that’s also fun to use.

Not only does PwGenerator generate standard passwords, it can create WPA/WPA2/WEP keys for Wi-Fi connections. And, it can generate multiple passwords at one time.

PwGenerator uses a simple and obvious set slider bars to create longer, therefore, more complex passwords. Simply move the slider bar left or right. Adjust the settings to add or reduce Capital letters, Small letters, and add Digits and Symbols.

The Strength Meter at the bottom give you an idea how strong a particular password is. Notice what happens to the Strength meter when you use only numbers in the password. Letters are more secure.

Options include the ability to define a custom set of symbols, adjust the number of possible combinations, and create a list of passwords to export. The only feature I’d like to see in PwGenerator is an option for speakable or pronounceable passwords. If that interests you, check out Doorman for the Mac.

It hasn’t been updated in a few years but it’s the only speakable password generator app I’ve found to date.