Just was thinking this morning, as I missed typed in my standard, been used for a thousand years password, and was wondering: How often do you change your passwords? How long is the longest you've used one (or more) passwords? Me, I've been using the same password now for around 5 years, even bypassing GPO's to enable my password to never expire. Actually I have 2 that I use on a regular basis, one contains symbols, numbers and letters that I use everywhere I can. The other password is just a mix of numbers and letters for those area's that you can't use symbols in your password. As I said I was thinking about this this morning. Considering how long I've been using the same passwords, should I come up with something new? But being pretty well set in my ways I'm very reluctant to change, considering my passwords are probably two of the strongest, for their type, that I have ever come across.
Like you, I have passwords with symbols and numbers that are general use, as well as plain alphanumeric ones for sites that don't support it. But then on top of this I have passwords related to the sites themselves for when I feel things should be a little more secure. And let's see, longest running password would be for my gmail account, it's been the same since I opened it, back when you needed an invite to do that.
I use the the same password for pretty much everything. If for some reason I need to change my password i'll alter the password I use slightly. Though for certain things I use a really long password, 83 characters to be exact, its basically a random mix of letters and numbers. Sometimes I have to put it in a few times because I put it in incorrectly or because i'll forget it for a few seconds.
Like Dark Scyth, I have a master password for pretty much everything. If it is for a site that I am not completely sure of, I will use a generic one that is easy enough to remember. I can't keep track of tons of passwords, so I try to keep it to as few as possible, while still maintaining security.
At the moment I have pretty much one password I use for the majority of things and then another password for things I want to keep somewhat secure but don't totally trust. If some random websites makes me register just to download something ill register with a disposable email address at mailinator.com and use something like 12345678 as the password, I'm careful what i associate with my email address. As for changing passwords, I dont to be honest if I can help it. Like Bonez on some thing ive set my password to never expire where you would normally have to change it every 3 months. I really do think i need to have a different password for my email account, at least if someone did discover the password its a lot harder for them to get access to my other stuff. *note to self, DO THAT* its been one of them things ive been meaning to do for ages but never have... I just cant remember 100's of different passwords.