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Ask HN: I forgot my work laptops's creds. Should I be worried about my health?
Hi.
Last week, after getting back from vacation, I wanted to check something from my work laptop. To my disbelief and horror, I could not remember the password, and eventually logged myself out of the MacBook. It has fingerprint activated, so I do not enter password for every unlock.
Now, my question is not about how to reset the password on MacOS. It's about Alzheimers/Dementia. I am almost 38 years old, an IT practitioner like most of the people here, and used to be "famous" for my (mostly long-term) memory. I vaguely remember (ironically :D) that this password forgetting also happened some months ago, although I eventually figured it out that time. Should I take these as signs of what is coming for me? Or they are fairly recurring among my peers? Do you experience these stuff?
And if this is indeed it, is there anything I can do to change/delay the eventual fate? Any practice, etc? I have been learning languages continuously and I thought that would work. Not sure anymore.
If I want to have a medical checkup, what kind of specialist do I have to refer to?
Many thanks
- giorgioz 2y agoIf you are using random passwords like ys8@202hfjwoi! then it's normal to forget them. I recommend to switch to long meaningful sentences, parts of songs and proverbs or a quote that you remember. If you are trying to recover a password you forget be METHODIC about it. Write down each attempt you made on another laptop in paralell and double check before entering that you wrote down the password to try on the other laptop. Sometimes you are off by just one letter.
- throwaway010125 2y agoWe have to rotate our password every few months. It probably played a role.
- garnimo5 2y agoWelcome to adult life, it will only get worse with time. Start building appropriate habits, less depending on memory and more depending on notebooks, calendar reminders, physical backups for passwords and keys, etc Also, if you work in IT, you should already know that people forgetting their work computer password after a vacation is a common occurrence...
- coldtea 2y agoIs it a difficult password? Many characters, weird combos, special characters, thrown in? If yes, why would you expect to remember it? Especially after a period of no use, like a vacation? (and technically, why isn't it in a password manager?) If you're 38 you are not a spring chicken anymore, you also probably have stress, a lot on your plate, etc. Some things become harder with age, including keeping a sharp memory. That doesn't mean it's Alzheimers/Dementia. Not to mention the dietary and other factors affecting memory. If anytime some person forgot their password it was Alzheimers/Dementia, we'd be crawling in Alzheimers/Dementia patients.
- throwaway010125 2y ago> and technically, why isn't it in a password manager? It's the password for the local user account on the laptop. Does a password manager work for that?
- coldtea 2y agoAt least in the sense that you can store it in the manager, and refer to it if you forget it. Doesn't have to be automatically entered to help!
- throwaway010125 2y agoWe are not allowed to store our work-related passwords on third-party password managers.
- coldtea 2y agoI'm not saying that you still could, but you still could... And it's better than the alternative, which is that many people would just write them out somewhere anyway, often in plain text, or pick the simplest ones they are allowed to...
- throwaway010125 2y ago
- mytailorisrich 2y agoI always write down my work passwords before going on holidays because I never remember them after 1-2 weeks otherwise. I'd say nothing to worry about, it's just your brain telling you what matters, and what doesn't.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]