Paco Hope My Random Musings and Rants

14Oct/09Off

I HATE Security Questions

There are tons of good reasons why so-called "security question" are terrible. As long ago as 2005, Bruce Schneier, for example, wrote about what a stupid idea they are. I've resisted setting them as much as I can, but sometimes the dumb site just won't let you get by without setting them. Ironically, they say the questions make my account MORE secure. But if my password is "8ycAMKin34pNL253" and my high school mascot was a "hornet," which is easier to guess? If a would-be impersonator wants to hijack my account and they don't know my password, they can just stroll over to Facebook and try to figure it out from either my own profile, or one of my friends' profiles. Figure out which of my friends went to high school with me, and bang, you've got it. Figure out that I went to high school in Virginia Beach (by reading my blog, for example) at a time when there were about 12 high schools, and you've only got 12 things to try. That's stupid. That's the weakest link to taking over my account, not my very secure password.

1Dec/03Off

More on UI and Navigation

So my previous rant on UI and Icons and such touched off a lively discussion. I thought I would give more information on what I was really thinking when I wrote what I wrote.

23Nov/03Off

Icons and UI

Ok, disclaimers first: I have done absolutely zero research into user interface design, I have no degrees in psychology, and I have no input into my thought process other than my own experience. Without letting that stop me, I'm going to go off for a minute on why I think computer user interfaces are so bad these days.