A sad tale of the cost of a lost password - and how to avoid a similar fate

Image by Rick Bella from Pixabay 

I have previously written about clients who lost the master password to their 'password safe' - which has meant that they are unable to access all the passwords that are in that safe, protected by that password.

This can be very distressing and create a lot of work to reset all the passwords that you no longer have access to.

So imagine the stress - and incredible distress - for a programmer in Silicon Valley who has forgotten the password to his Bitcoin digital wallet - valued at US$245M.

Even worse, he only has 2 attempts left (out of 10) before he is locked out of his wallet FOREVER, forfeiting that $245,000,000!

Read about this poor man in the article below.

• Man who forgot password may lose $300m Bitcoin fortune​

How do you keep your passwords safe - and available when you need them?

I always recommend to clients that the best solution for password storage is to use a password safe of some sort.

Three popular password safe apps (available on all mobile devices and computers) are 1Password, LastPass, Dashlane.

​Here are a couple of articles about Password Safe apps and the merits (and costs) of these various apps:

• How to find the best password manager (Choice)
• ​The best password managers in 2021 (Tom's Choice)

A free solution built right into your iPhone, iPad and Mac

A simply solution for securely storing your passwords - especially if they are currently written on a piece of paper - is to utilise the Notes app, which provides the option to Lock a Note​. 

A paper password list can be simply scanned directly into the Note, then locked away from prying eyes.

We have recorded a short tutorial that shows how to lock a Note, and how to scan those paper pages into the Note. It is available for members of the iTandCoffee Club using the below button. Not yet a member? Why not Join Today (or find out more here).

Learn about locking Notes

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Learn lots more about the amazing Notes app

iTandCoffee regularly runs short (usually 1 hour) sessions call PTT (Personal Technology Training) sessions about a variety of topics. And we have a video of one such session (recorded in June 2020), where we covered the features of the amazing Notes app - including how to lock notes, scan notes, and so much more.

iTandCoffee Club members with Online and Premium membership can access any and all videos of PTT sessions any time at no cost - here is the link for these members. Anyone else can purchase an MP4 download of this class below, for only $10.

PTT Video - Discovering the Amazing Notes App

A$10.00

Add to Cart

Discover all the things your Notes App can do to keep all sorts of information stored, organised and secure. Each Note can contain shopping Lists, photos, scans, drawings and more – and your important Notes can be locked to protect them from prying eyes. 

To see all our great PTT topics, visit www.itandcoffee.com.au/ptt-video-options. Subscribe for big savings on these videos.

Important information before you purchase (please read):

After purchase of this product, you will be provided a link to download the purchased MP4 file to your device - this link will be valid for 3 days, to allow you to complete the download to your device.

If you are not familiar with the process of downloading files in Safari on the iPad/iPhone (as this has changed in iOS 13), here is a web page that you should read before purchasing.

The email you receive confirming your purchase will include a link to these instructions at the bottom - in case you need to refer to them again.

On your computer or other device, please look for the downloaded MP4 file in your standard Downloads location.

Most PTT video downloads are between 100 and 400MB, so can take some time to download.

This MP4 File size: 55MB

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Other articles about Notes

Handy Hints (for iTandCoffee Club members)

• How to Pin a Note to the top of your list of Notes
• Have your upgraded your Notes app on your iPad and iPhone?  Here's how to use it.
• The new Notes features in iOS 9.3 - Note passwords, and sort by name
• Shared Note - share your Notes with others in iOS 10
• Family fun with Pictionary - using an iPad and Apple TV
• Make sure you take a look at these great features of the Notes app

Blog Articles​

• Notes app does not have the new features on the iPhone and iPad​​
• Make sure you take a look at these great features of the Notes app
• How to unlock a locked not when the password is not known
  
• ​​The Notes app on my Mac allows me to organise Notes into a Folder/Sub-Folder structure