Changing your password from time to time is not only smart, but advisable. In this introduction we'll share some best practices as well as some tips and tricks, and then show you how to change your password further into the guide. Changing your password is very easy, and we recommend doing so from time to time. Remember: It is your sole responsibility to protect your account from any access by anyone who isn't you, be that authorised or unauthorised, and it is highly recommended that you do not share your account with others. If you must share your computer or other browsing equipment with another person, or you are using a public computer, it is also highly recommended that you make sure you log out of your account after use.
This guide is split into two sections, not including this introduction:
- Introduction (You are here)
- Desktop/Laptop Users
- Mobile/Tablet Users
If you are uncertain as to which you're on, please click (or tap) here.
Best Practices
When setting a password, we recommend:
- That it is not a dictionary word, and would be hard to guess by a third party.
- That it contains an assortment of letters, numbers and symbols, and that your password is over 8 characters long. This will help prevent brute forcing (a technique used to systematically go through every character in any language to guess the password).
- That, if possible, you do not reuse any password from any other site; especially where it might be known to the owners, administrators, staff, members, or third-party companies of that site.
- If you’re using a complex password, please use a free open source password manager with encryption. Do not write down your password, or store it in plain text.
We also recommend:
- Changing your password, at either 6 month or 12 month intervals.
- Never using the same password on multiple sites. (Seriously, don't!)
- Setting up Two-Factor-Authentication, which you can learn about here. (Needs to be written up)
KeePass
We very highly recommend KeePass which is a free, OSI Certified (which means it's open source), and very secure password manager for Windows. There are contributed versions for Linux, Mac, Apple Mobile, and Android as well, as you can see on their downloads page. It is quite feature rich, and even contains a password generator that you can customise (and EcchiDreams does work with High-ANSI characters, which makes it even harder to brute force because of the array of possible symbols used). Of course you may want to use a different password manager, and that's completely fine; as they let you have a master password if used properly, you'll never have the same password on multiple sites.
Disclaimer: Please note that whilst this is extremely unlikely any damages may be caused from either proper or improper use of the software, we are not responsible or liable for any that do. EcchiDreams doesn't support KeePass; meaning if there is a problem with the application you need to take it up with the people who developed it - we did not. This is not a paid endorsement, nor is it something we were asked to endorse. Some of the staff on EcchiDreams have used this application for years, and found it to be solid and reliable.