Here is a neat way to better password protect your profiles on all those social networks. Most people tend to use the same password again and again because they can’t remember hundreds. They still need somewhere to store them all as well.

This tool, though, lets you remember ONE password. You then combine it with the domain you are logging into. So “password” combined with “facebook.com” will always generate “3d46176a”. So something nice and unique, and retrievable when you are sitting in a Las Vegas hotel lobby thinking “sod it, he’s on my Linked In network… and I don’t have my master password file”.

Why is this good? Well one password is intrinsicly unsafe, as are generic ones. But this becomes even more problematic when you combine widgets and gadgets between social networks. You end up giving out passwords to gadgets all over the place. If you layer this… use your generic password with the gadget URL, then use the result with each social profile that the gadget uses, then you might just start protecting yourself… a bit.

The Google Gadget coding should be credited to Zsolt Molnar – Helsinki, Finland and I got the original idea from here.


Dixon Jones

An award-winning Search and Internet Marketer. Search Personality of the year Lifetime achievement award Outstanding technology individual of the year International public speaker for 20 years in the field of SEO and Internet Marketing, including: Pubcon; Search Engine Strategies (SMX); Brighton SEO; Ungagged; Search Leeds; State of Search; RIMC and many more.

6 Comments

Dixon Jones · 28th October 2008 at 3:11 pm

Want it as a Widget?
http://www.widgetbox.com/widget/password-generator

metricvoodoo · 28th October 2008 at 4:38 pm

Nifty gadget. Do you know if there’s a comparable add-on for FF3?

Dixon Jones · 28th October 2008 at 4:44 pm

Sort of… here’s a Bookmarklet at least, at http://www.angel.net/~nic/passwdlet.html

Andrei Stanciu · 23rd December 2008 at 7:35 pm

there is too much private stuff at social networking profiles, i believe it is needed for this new feature

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