Steam - A love / Hate Relationship

[delushin]

Don't get me wrong I love Steam more then hate ... but one thing that annoys me is the secret question and password changes.

I (due to a bad memory) leave it set to auto log in and forget my password.

So I had it opened on the lappy when I tried to log in on the desktop, and it freaks out and tells me that I am already logged in please enter my password to log the other account out. Well I cant remember the password and the place I wrote it down was thrown out (don't worry she is still breathing just locked away).

OK no problem ill go the password reset ... now I made sure that I changed the secret question and answer right after they reset it for me last time this happened, but I still get a steam mail saying to enter the code they send you and answer to the question "What did customer support reset you pass-phrase to last time?"

PASS-PHRASE?

Nothing they didn't give me a pass-phrase in any of the four hundred million steam mails I have saved not one refers to a "pass-phrase". I assume that is meant to be the secret question which I changed my it still reverts back to the factory settings?

Anyone else have those password reset problem.

Is there anything that is fully secure and stable for password storage to help me in forgetting and the other half from throwing things out and getting "corner time" lol

[Jigoku]

The last time you forgot your password and contacted support, they also changed the answer to your secret question to the same "word". They do this because they assume you forgot your answer otherwise you wouldn't have contacted them to reset your password; you would have done it yourself.

Dig through your old emails and find the password they gave you last time. That will be the answer.

[Mighty Brush]

I work professionally in the field of Identity and Access Management, so I'm going to let you in on the secret to keeping your home passwords safe and secure...

WRITE THEM DOWN

The biggest risk you as a home user has is being phished / keylogged / brute forced (tabled). Neither of these involves someone rifling through your bookshelf for a notebook with passwords on it...

By writing them down (and keeping them someplace that doesn't scream "steal me" at the same time as someone's nicking your LCD) you will enable yourself to use nice strong passwords that are not dictionary words.

It also makes it really hard to forget your passwords

If you travel a lot, consider the slightly less secure software solutions (such as KeePassX).

In short, your biggest risk as a home user are REMOTE attacks, these don't involve physical access to your house. If you save the passwords on your computer they are less secure than if you just wrote them down and kept them someplace obscure.

[rokaan]

I store my passwords on my usb drive , I do not store passwords on the pc hard drive.The file is encryted but even if they do decrypt it , they will see a file full of random letters and numbers , but I know where abouts in the file the password is and how long it is .My usb is like the mobile phone is to the Y generation, I'm never without it ( not the mobile , I don't have one , I loath them).

I also just use a pc for online games ( you would be surprised what things that games put onto your system and system registry, I prefer to keep my data private ) another for browsing and downloading and others for tests and virtual environments etc.

[Mighty Brush]

If you want to store them encrypted on a USB drive, consider Truecrypt.

TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows 7/Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux

[delushin]

Originally Posted by Mighty Brush

WRITE THEM DOWN

perfect advice

got any tips on how to stop the wife from "cleaning up" and throwing the paper out

I guess I might look at a diary or notepad or book I suppose that is something less likely to be thrown out as a random paper with numbers letters and symbols on it.

[Reoh]

Originally Posted by delushin

perfect advice

got any tips on how to stop the wife from "cleaning up" and throwing the paper out

I guess I might look at a diary or notepad or book I suppose that is something less likely to be thrown out as a random paper with numbers letters and symbols on it.

Divorce, but its a little extreme...

[Mighty Brush]

Originally Posted by Reoh

Divorce, but its a little extreme...

It does have added benefits though


On the other hand, I'd use a notebook, and tell her that you keep your passwords there - If something bad happens to you (hopefully it doesn't), having access to your passwords can make things one hell of a lot easier and less stressful. E.G. cancelling subscriptions etc.

[delushin]

Yea ... the notebook of extreme wordage is activated

Now I have found the steam problem its with the secret question ... They reset my password and I changed it but I am unable to change my secret question even with a verified email the code they send me keeps getting rejected have tried this 10 times ... Petition opened regarding that now

[Bikkies]

Don't worry Delushin, you'll forget about your love hate with steam anytime now