Passwords are like the key to your electronic house. You do not want the lock so simple that anyone can pick it, giving access to things as mundane as your personalized horoscope to items as important as your bank account. There is no way to guarantee that hackers will not be able to crack your password, but there are several strategies that make it far less likely.

First of all, while your password should be easy for you to remember, it shouldn't be easily guessable. Using your real name, username, dog's name, the sport you play, etc. is inviting disaster.

Next, don't use dictionary words, or words that can be found in the dictionary. Some hackers try to break passwords by using programs that try using every word in the dictionary.

Another type of brute force attack tries every single combination of characters. You can slow or thwart these attempts by mixing upper and lower case and adding some numbers. Another strategy is to use non-standard characters, such as % ^ < ? @ . _ and even éHowever, some programs or websites will not accept certain characters for use in passwords.

Here's an example of how to create a strong password that is fairly easy to remember. When you were young, let's say you loved to play The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros. 3 on your NES. You also happen to know that in Japan, the NES was called the Famicom. Start by replacing the vowels with numbers: f4m1c0m. Next, capitalize one or more of the remaining letters: f4M1c0M. Finally, you can try adding a nonstandard character: f4M1c0M!. Congratulations! You are the proud new owner of a strong, hack-resistant password.