How do people remember pin numbers

..Brian..

I remember numbers by their shape. Ie 1597 for example is diagonal top left to bottom right and then straight over left!

..Brian..

SimonTemplar wrote: »

My pin has a significant connection with a TV series.

The 4400??

bnt

For one PIN I use a mathematical "trick" to remember it. For passwords in general, though, particularly for seldom-used websites, I use different versions of a program called "Keepass", which stores logins and passwords in an encrypted file.
- Keepass Portable on my big Windows computer
- KeepassX on my Linux netbook
- KeepassDroid on my Android tablet. If I had an Android phone, I'd use it there too. There are versions for Apple devices too, and more.

Overkill, perhaps, but the same data file works on all three, and is synchronized between them using Dropbox. The file has to be unlocked with a password, of course, but it's a very long and complicated one.

_Kaiser_

To be fair to the OP, it's a pain in the @ss sometimes trying to remember all these various PINs and passwords we use on a daily basis:

- Bank cards (I have 4) - then there's those STUPID "Verified by Visa" passwords on top of that
- Fuel card PIN
- House alarm
- Laptop password
- Work laptop password (forces me to reset it every 2 months and won't accept the previous 20!! passwords, must include numbers/special characters etc)
- Secondary work email account (must be reset every month, same requirements as above)
- various system logins
- Online banking PIN and ID
- personal accounts (boards, email, social media etc)

It's very easy to forget one or more than these (I've gone totally blank on the house alarm a few times). Yea you can save them in your phone, or use password managers like Keepass or Lastpass but I feel sorry for anyone less technically literate than the average Boards user these days!

SimonTemplar

..Brian.. wrote: »

The 4400??

Nope

General General

I write my pin code on a sticky label that I pop on my cock before I go out... if I forget my pin, no problem, I just look down as I usually have a little fap at the ATM or in the queue.

SpaceTime

I'd agree though it is becoming a problem

I have locked myself out of Verified by Visa more times than I care to remember.

Zen65

Before many of the pups here were born, we used to have to remember 6-digit phone numbers (which later became 7-digit) for all of our friends, because electronic phones had not been invented. The mobile phone has wrecked people's ability to remember stuff, as you have now have a contacts book to store & select numbers.

A 4-digit PIN is so easy by comparison.

Also, I've written it down under one of my toes.

Z

biko

As someone else mentioned. Disguised as phone numbers in my phone which is automatically backed up to the cloud.
And given a normal name that only I know isn't a real thing.

For instance AIB card code in phone - Adrian Burgess -085 4253765

Can't lose them even if I wanted to.

SpaceTime

Zen65 wrote: »

Before many of the pups here were born, we used to have to remember 6-digit phone numbers (which later became 7-digit) for all of our friends, because electronic phones had not been invented. The mobile phone has wrecked people's ability to remember stuff, as you have now have a contacts book to store & select numbers.

A 4-digit PIN is so easy by comparison.

Also, I've written it down under one of my toes.

Z

And we used to have to text with a big rotary dial... it'd give you blistered fingers!

When you got an incoming text, Biddy the postmistress used to ring your phone twice and a carrier pigeon would be sent out to you.

Those were the days!

ifeelill

Cormac... wrote: »

THIS IS OBVIOUSLY A TROLL THREAD FFS!!!!

Mrs Garth Brooks

I was stuck at the pass machine this morning and even though it was a 4 digit number, I was mixing digits up, couldn't remember it for the life of me. Its not the first time. And if I change it now, I'll be mixing them up and probably will end up using the old pin. I really can't remember these things.

I like the phone number idea, think I'll try that.

Miguel_Sanchez

SimonTemplar wrote: »

Both wrong.

Hmmm.... mine was not only wrong it was one of those joke things that you may have heard people talking about every now and then.

Marje

Fake phone number as others use, also have eWallet on laptop.

CrazyRabbit

In work we have a security rule that says we can't store passwords anywhere. For most people in the company it's not so bad as that would just be 4 passwords.
A few teams though, including mine, have access to dozens of secured systems. The only way we can comply with the company security rules is to use the same password on all systems, which is a really bad idea. But hey...at least we're not breaking the rules!!

BNMC

I scratched my pin with a knife on my local ATM.

noxqs

I remember it by memorizing the offset in Pi where it occurs next to my telephone number.

wendyjames2

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

How do people remember their pin numbers and passwords?

I have a couple of passwords to various websites like email, facebook etc. I just type them all in and one of them works.

Its the pin number to your bank card which is the problem. I know you can change it but what 4 digits can you use thats easy to remember besides your birthday. I have mine written down in my wallet which is very risky if i ever lost it.

For my online accounts and passwords I use this program called LastPass. It's free and safe.

While for ATM Pins - you are right it is never safe to have them in your wallet. If you lose your wallet, you lose your card and your PIN all at the same time. It is not also safe to store them in your phone. I am bad with remembering things so I have it stored in the cloud - Google Drive, Dropbox may also be a possibility.

cournioni

I never remember my Personal Identification Number numbers. Especially the ones at the Automated Teller Machine machine. Same with my Personal Public Service Number number.

Papa_Bear

OP pick a character and trace it out on the keypad like an X 1937
or C 3173 and then visualise the character and the no will follow.

ardle1

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

How do people remember their pin numbers and passwords?

I have a couple of passwords to various websites like email, facebook etc. I just type them all in and one of them works.

Its the pin number to your bank card which is the problem. I know you can change it but what 4 digits can you use thats easy to remember besides your birthday. I have mine written down in my wallet which is very risky if i ever lost it.

Well on my credit and ATM cards I just write the number in black permanent marker on the front 'HELLO' and my com remembers all my passwords,just wish I didn't need any for al these meaningless things email, boards, ebay, fb,VW Forum,donedeal,mandmdirect,o2 money,PAYPAL , blah blah blah I even have a password for this lapT;)

meoklmrk91

Sometimes I just can't remember it but when I go to the ATM I automatically put it in, muscle memory. Today I nearly entered my old pin which I haven't used in over 6 months and can't even remember what it is now.

I too have been locked out by verified by visa, also locked out of online banking. I use many variants of a small number of different passwords to different sites, though anything to do with money has its own password that isn't used for anything else, it's things that I don't log into often that I have an issue with.

SweepTheLeg

SimonTemplar wrote: »

My pin has a significant connection with a TV series.

4815

seamus

Thankfully this is not something I have difficulty with, remembering numbers has never been a problem for me. Usually they get remembered in blocks of four or five, and there will also usually be some rhythmic aspect to it too. If 3 of the numbers are particularly rhythmic together, like 383, then that'll be a block of 3 numbers.
It's useful in that after using a number four or five times (like a bank account number), I never need to have it written down when I need it, but it's also a curse because when I'm online I can buy crap without needing my credit card physically on me.

Working on a checkout as a youngling, I can remember customers looking at me wide-eyed as I'd punch in a 13-digit barcode entirely from memory, for items with troublesome barcodes.

I do use "tricks", but more often than not, I do it unconsciously. So I look for patterns in the numbers - if the number is 4623 for example, I'll automatically pick out that 23*2 = 46, so I really only need to remember the number 46 and that the rest of the number is half that. Which makes it 3 pieces of information {4,6,half} rather than four {4,6,2,3}.

Similarly for mobile numbers, don't try and remember ten digits. I can never understand people calling back the whole ten digits when trying to memorise a mobile number.

The first 3 digits come from a very finite set. It can only be one of a handful of codes - 083,085,086,087,089. So rather than trying to remember all 3 numbers in your head, you only need one - a 3,5,6,7 or 9. Actually in my head I remember the operator, so a mobile phone gets remembered as {Vodafone,1,2,3,4,5,6,7} and whatever way the information is arranged in my head it stores much easier than an eighth digit. It's kind of irrelevant that a Vodafone number can have any prefix now as in my head Vodafone == 087.

Tar.Aldarion

I got a tattoo with them, it's also my birthday and my boards log in, easy.

Sam Kade

..Brian.. wrote: »

I remember numbers by their shape. Ie 1597 for example is diagonal top left to bottom right and then straight over left!

That's a complicated way to remember a number
If I wanted to remember that number I would think 57 chevrolet 1957 move the 9 between the 5 and 7

elefant

0118999 88199 9119 725 3

That's easy to remember!

coffee_cake

seamus wrote: »

I do use "tricks", but more often than not, I do it unconsciously. So I look for patterns in the numbers

Yep

noddyone2

HardLuckWoman wrote: »

How do people remember their pin numbers and passwords?

I have a couple of passwords to various websites like email, facebook etc. I just type them all in and one of them works.

Its the pin number to your bank card which is the problem. I know you can change it but what 4 digits can you use thats easy to remember besides your birthday. I have mine written down in my wallet which is very risky if i ever lost it.

It's a PIN, not a pin number. Are you one of those people that use an ATM machine as well?

SpaceTime

What drives me mad is corporate networks that have password polices where they've got to be changed every month, must contain special characters like #£_{ and a mix of non sequential alpha numeric characters using both upper and lower case letters. And you have to use q new password every time.

I worked in one office where this was required one a week on 3 systems that pretty much the whole office needed access to.
Nobody got any work done on Mondays as a result as half the company (at 8 global locations) was on hold to tech support having forgotten their passwords and locking themselves out!!

Security gone mad and badly implemented.