Pafwert generates strong passwords you can actually remember

If all the regular high-profile website hacks have persuaded you that using "password" as your password is a bad idea, then you could use a password generator to produce something more cryptic. There’s a problem, though. Most generators create random passwords like "dml&$s2j" or "lBH6-aa5", which are secure, but also very difficult to remember.

Pafwert is a password generator with a difference. Instead of churning out random text strings, it uses a far more intelligent algorithm to produce passwords which are both secure and memorable.

The program’s interface is, well, basic, but there’s enough to carry out its core task. Launch Pafwert, click the "Suggest" button, and you’ll immediately be presented with twelve possible passwords: easy.

Our tests suggested these suggestions won’t always be ideal -- "boo bureau" is maybe a little short, and "ouppinnnha\waiver" could be tricky to remember -- but most were excellent. "90 tablespoon", "[email protected]", "pupped not pupped", "Stomping the Matrix", "Elephant geezer" and "71 insecure pine nuts" all stood out, and if you don’t see anything suitable then you can always click "Suggest" for another twelve.

Once you’ve happy, clicking any password displays a menu with options to copy one or all of the passwords to the clipboard, or clear the list entirely.

What you don’t get here is any way to tell Pafwert what sort of password you need. If you’d like a ten character password with two numbers and no spaces, for example, you can’t define that in advance; you just have to look at the various suggestions and tweak the closest match.

Pafwert is certainly easy to use, though, and if you’ve had enough of random passwords then the program’s suggestions could be an excellent alternative. Give it a try.