S3 Blog

Any online website that involves having a membership to it, regardless of whether you have to pay for that membership or not usually requires you to set up your membership when you first enter it. This involves you having to fill out an electronic form on which you give data about yourself – this can then be used when sending out emails and newsletters etc. You are also asked to provide a username, which is the name that will be at the top of the screen whilst you are logged into that site and a password, which is used during the login process.

Your password should not be shared by anyone as this the key to allowing you access to sites. Obviously some of the sites that you enter are ‘just for fun’ type sites which do not contain any important or overly personal information, but some sites, such S3 CRM are used for working purposes and must only be accessed by yourself as they can contain sensitive information. Due to this it is essential that when you are creating a password for an online site you make sure that it is strong. When a password is classed as strong it means that it is difficult for anyone to guess it and therefore be able to gain access to the online site you are using.

Many people often wonder how to choose a good strong password for online sites as it can sometimes be difficult to think of something that is not personal to you. For example many people like to use their children’s or pets names – but such passwords can be easily worked out – especially if the person trying to gain access to your online site has some knowledge of you. If you really want to choose a good strong password you need to think of something that no one would guess, this can be a word, but it should also have some numerical characters in it too and even punctuation, to make it even more difficult to guess.

However, you must ensure that whatever you choose you are able to remember it. Some good examples of strong passwords are –
Zigzag845!£% - although this could be quite hard to remember!

ExPlOrEr279 – using upper and lower case letters alternatively within the word explorer and an easy to remember three digit number at the

blueBOTTLE£££ - this is also a good strong password

As you can see you can use words that are easy to remember but mix up the upper and lower cases of the letters, and add a mixture of symbols at the end of the password. You can also put symbols at the start if you like – it’s your password so it is up to you how you mix it up. Some websites also have a strength indicator to show how strong your password is as you type it and this can be a good indicator as to how strong your password is. So remember when you are choosing a password for online sites make sure that if you are using a word it is something unconnected to you and throw in some numbers, symbols and a mixture of upper and lower case letters.

Email is one of the most well used and recognisable forms of communication today, it is fast, efficient and when using many online email accounts – free. Add to this the fact that using an online email account means that you can access your own personal email account from anywhere in the world that has an internet connection and it is easy to see why so many people have them.

Many small businesses find that using online email accounts is a better option for them as it saves a great deal of money rather than having to pay for a dedicated in-house email solution. As with any type of service there are advantages and disadvantages to using online email accounts:-

Advantages
Accessibility – as you are able to access your own personal email account from anywhere in the world you are able to stay in touch with the office and friends where ever you are. This means that you do not have to take your own laptop with you on business trips so you can log into the network just to read your emails.

Cheap – many of the online email accounts are free, or very cheap to use.
Features – many of the online email accounts today offer advanced features such as unlimited storage (something which many users of email accounts such as Outlook will tell you is a massive bonus), virus protection, spam protection, unique graphics and fonts.

Extra capabilities – many online email account providers are also offering free instant messaging or software alongside their main product to encourage users to sign up.

Disadvantages

Privacy – as you are not contributing to the running costs of your online email account the owner must make up revenue somehow. This can be through ads on the site or through selling information – primarily yours. Read the small print of the terms of use to make sure that your provider will not sell things such as your name, email address, contents of your address book and so on.

Security – sending passwords and usernames in plain text means that they pose a security risk. Check to see that your provider has SSL encryption as this will protect your sensitive login information.

Reliability – if you rely heavily on your email account you need to make sure that it is always up and running. If you use an online email account you could find that unplanned maintenance disrupts our routine. Or do you know what would happen if the provider closed down their email facility – how would you retrieve your messages?

Online email accounts are very useful and can provide you with a reliable and secure method of accessing your emails from any PC anywhere in the world (with an internet connection). However if you need to have access to your emails and do not want to run the risk of the provider’s maintenance plans or security throwing a spanner in the works you could be better off paying for your email account.