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systems, the password for an account was the word passworditself! Whenchoosing good passwords, follow these rules: Don t use any part of your name. Don t use the names of friends, loved ones, or pets. Don t use birthdays, anniversaries, or other easily guessed dates. Don t use dictionary words. Don t keep your password written down near your computer, unless it sburied in something else, such as writing it into an address. Don t tell anyone your password. If someone needs to access specificfiles, give the person an account and set up permissions and groupsproperly so that they can do so. Do use a mix of lowercase letters, capital letters, and numbers. Do ensure that your password contains a minimum of eight characters. Do use acronyms made from sentences, such as having the passwordM8yodniTto stand for My eight-year-old dog s name is Tabby. Every person on your system needs to follow these rules, including you! Consider keeping a sheet of paper with these rules on it next to the machine. I can t stress this advice enough: Nevergive out your password. Make surethat the people using your machine understand this rule. You can always findalternative methods to accomplish a task without giving out your password. If someone wants to use your machine, make an account for that person. Then they can have their own password! Updating SoftwareAll users can download and install new software. Of course, the programsthey install are limited to the user s own permissions. The thing to be carefulof here with any operating system is that you don t get a version of aprogram that has been tampered with or is even an all-out fake trying to trickfolks into installing it. Most Linux applications and other Linux software programs are distributedby way of the Internet. In fact, the development cycle of new (and updates to) Linux software revolves around the Internet for file exchange, e-mail, andforum or newsgroup discussions. Make sure that you and other users of yourLinux system are comfortable with the Web sites that are used and visited. You need to develop a listof trusted sites that provide you with the informa- tion you need and are not misleading in their presentation. As a startingpoint, you can trustall the Web sites referenced in this book because I haveaccessed them all. If either you or a user of your Linux system is unsure264Part III:Getting Up to Speed with Linux