It’s time again to move your clocks forward one hour Sunday, 13 March 2011.  You’ve heard that every six months when you "spring forward", it’s a good time to change the batteries in your smoke or carbon monoxide detectors, schedule an exterminator to spray for unwanted pests, flip your mattresses and repair any leaks around your house.  But did you also know that computer experts recommend changing your passwords to critical computer and online areas twice a year as well?

Changing your passwords to log on to your computer or access critical stored information gets you in the habit of having a different one every so often. At the same time, it reduces the chance that someone else will be able to "break in" to your computer files or online information. Experts caution though that you shouldn’t "sequence" your passwords to make them easier to remember. If someone gets hold of an old password of yours, "green03," and it doesn’t work, it won’t take long for your average computer hacker to guess the new password is "green04" or "green05."
Whatever you do to make it easy for you to remember your passwords but hard for others to guess, consider changing your passwords when you change your clocks, detector batteries and replace any broken sprinkler heads. You may be very glad you did!