Steve Gibson, a security expert and chief executive of the Gibson Research Corporation, told the Times it would take just 2.43 months to go through every nine-character combination. Remembering a string of ten non-alphanumeric characters is difficult. So here's how to do it. Use the first letter of each word in a memorable phrase or favorite song to make a long password memorable. For example, I might derive a password from my favorite baseball player of all time, Mickey Mantle's, uniform number (7) and use the lyrics from "She Loves You," by the Beatles, "With a love like that, you know you should be glad" to inspire a password like "Walt,ykysbG7." That's easy to remember, and it's 13 characters.
6. Browser.
Since your browser is your most used app, you above all want to avoid wasting any time monkeying with it. So I've long used Internet Explorer. It's not fancy, but it works. IE's reliable. About six months ago, however, I switched to Firefox 4.0. It's been a good experience. You may want to switch. Firefox integrates my home computer with my smart phone.
When I open Firefox's mobile browser on my Android, it displays the recent browsing history from my laptop. That's handy. When you use Firefox on your home computer to run a search on Google for the address of a restaurant, that search shows up on your mobile phone browser. If you're in your car, you can open Firefox on your phone and the restaurant search is a click away, along with other searches you did today. That's practical. That makes my life simpler.
7. Bookmarks
Not to be a braggart, but my browser bookmarks are really displayed handsomely. Here's why you want to be just like me. It's showing the example in Firefox but this set up also works in IE and Google Chrome. The beauty of it is that only "favicons" are displayed as bookmarks. No text description is displayed.
By default, browsers show you text as well as a favicon in bookmarks toolbars. The text gets in the way. You can remember each site from its favicon and don't need the text reminder. Omitting text from bookmarks enables you to fit about five times as many favorite Web destinations on your bookmarks toolbar. Each browser has slightly different methods for omitting text from the bookmarks toolbar. Searching your browser's "Help" section for "bookmarks toolbar" should lead you to instructions for changing settings on your bookmarks toolbar.
8. Niche It
Modern marketing is about niches.
Beyond the basics of registering for Google Places and getting listed on key directories on the Web, boosting your online presence requires focused marketing. Your niche can be Indian hoteliers, American Airlines pilots or gay salon owners. If you post ideas of use to your niche, they will find you.
The tyranny of truth is more likely to guide them to you if your niche is really specific. Dairy farmers in Madison Wis., facing a real estate tax issue and retired New York City police officers rolling over IRAs are the kind of specificity you want in niches. That's because of the long tail of search. The long tail, according to Wikipedia, is when a business realizes significant profit by selling small volumes of hard-to-find items. By posting hard-to-find content about the issues your target market cares about, they're more likely to find you. It's not a once and done deal, however. If you post daily updates to social media and weekly blog entries, your online persona after a year or so is likely to take on a life of its own. You must also have a selfless devotion to truth and doing good to derive the most benefit. Don't be self-serving.
9. Speak Up.
Engaging an audience on social media may mean stepping out of your comfort zone. It's new and it is weird. But it's great even for the most timid and humble individuals. Even if you are an introvert, a demure or humble soul, let your online persona be an outlet for the extrovert hidden deep inside you. For big mouths, you'll be a natural. But you must engage in online conversation with people you seek to sell to. You'll need to speak up.
Editor-at-large Andrew Gluck, a veteran financial writer, owns Advisor Products Inc., a marketing technology company serving 1,800 advisory firms.