Mike McLoughlin's Blog

This is the view of the pool from the Precor EFX Elliptical machine at the gym! Great place to work out! I do 10 minutes on various machines then off to the pool for a swim and hoit tub

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Just finished reading the Book SWITCH!

2011-11-21T09:29:00.001-08:00

Now I plan to switch or change so I will start up this micro Blog

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Buddy Bear RIP 1999 - 2011

2011-11-08T20:10:00.001-08:00

The passing of the great Buddy Bear. He was a bear to outsiders and a buddy for Sue and I and our family. He was a great dog. Intelligent. Loyal. Protective. A very good dog overall. He lived a great dog's life. He ended his days in a wonderful setting. A field. A pond. A domain. Lots of squirrel's to chase. Coyotes to fight off. Deer to howl at. He enjoyed his life. He was a faithful companion. He guarded our home. He protected us from intruders. He got us out for walks on a regular basis. He was a very good member of our family. He will be sorely missed! He went quickly. Something happened this morning. He had trouble walking. He waited for Sue to come home. He passed in our company. It was a sad but peaceful ending to his life.Watch him in action on youtube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qh7d_2EEUS4

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Remembrance Day Sunday - Ben with Martin Cole who served with Canadian Air Force in Second World War

2011-11-06T11:20:00.001-08:00

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Sue observes the amazing variety of fall colors surrounding our pond

2011-10-26T07:35:00.001-07:00

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Ben McLoughlin makes a new friend at a game park in Livingston, Zambia - African Crocodile

2011-10-10T10:37:00.001-07:00

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Four deer in Mission Creek park on thanksgiving Sunday

2011-10-09T17:24:00.001-07:00

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Live stream of Graham Ord singing the House of the Rising Sun as a part of Message by Ralph Bromley at New Life Church Kelowna

2011-10-02T11:29:00.001-07:00

http://www.livestream.com/newlifekelowna
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Graham Morris speaking at New Life Church

2011-09-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

Transformed from glory to glory! Proving it by demonstrating it so that we are recommending it with integrity! Cheers!
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BC Lions playing last game at Empire Stadium before moving back to BC Place - BC leads Toronto 21 - 6.3GP

2011-09-10T15:24:00.001-07:00

BC Lions playing last game at Empire Stadium before moving back to BC Place - BC leads Toronto 21 - 6.3GP Watch on Posterous

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mck One last trip across the St Lawrence to Levis - Here I am with Quebec City in the background.jpg

2011-08-30T11:50:00.001-07:00

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mcl Ben stands on large tree down at the corner of Rue Saint Paul and Place du Marche-du-Vieux-Port in Quebec City.jpg

2011-08-29T09:56:00.003-07:00

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mcl Ben stands on large tree down at the corner of Rue Saint Paul and Place du Marche-du-Vieux-Port in Quebec City.jpg

2011-08-29T09:56:00.001-07:00

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Winds blow strong in Quebec City as Hurricane Irene nears the region.jpg

2011-08-28T14:09:00.001-07:00

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mcl Quebec Tattoo honors returning Afghan war veterans and remembers those that did not make it home.jpg

2011-08-27T18:42:00.001-07:00

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Lion show at the Quebec City fair - we are here for the Military Tattoo tonight.jpg

2011-08-27T15:10:00.001-07:00

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mcl Cirque de Soleil in Quebec City.jpg

2011-08-26T18:04:00.001-07:00

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mcl Sue gets nervous under bear head at First Nations shop in Quebec City.jpg

2011-08-26T06:27:00.001-07:00

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Are capes worn by Popes called copes? Epic English fail in Rome Exhibit at Musee du Civilization

2011-08-25T13:06:00.001-07:00

Otherwise very interesting exhibit of the history of the Rome that includes a 20 sq foot model of the city at year 320 AD that was thirty years in the making by a French Quebec artist Cheers!
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Overheated battery in electric Ecolo Bus requires firefighters and shuts down traffic on Grand Allee in Quebec City

2011-08-24T12:44:00.001-07:00

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mcl Sue and I are on the ferry with Ron and Marilyn Peters crossing over the St. Lwarence to Saint Foi - the Peters met up with us after seeing our post on Facebook as they were visiting Quebec City today and tomorrow.jpg

2011-08-22T12:48:00.001-07:00

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Sue and I will attend the Rome exhibition at Musee de la Civilization in Quebec city this week

2011-08-21T12:23:00.001-07:00

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mcl Busker juggles atop a 12 foot unicycle in Quebec City where Sue and I are for the next two weeks.jpg

2011-08-19T17:12:00.001-07:00

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mcl Sam and Sue with Mike at Theatre under the Stars in Stanley Park in Vancouver for the musical Anything Goes.jpg

2011-07-25T20:12:00.001-07:00

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Beaver swimming in Salmon channel by Mission Creek

2011-07-21T20:01:00.001-07:00

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mcl Buddy Bear finds a sweet morsel inside a paper bag at a picnic in our backyard.jpg

2011-07-14T17:49:00.001-07:00

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Sunfish disappears under a rock at Williams Beach on Vancouver Island.jpg

2011-07-03T14:40:00.001-07:00

I am visiting my parents for the weekend. It is low tide so I decided to do some exploring!
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Sue inspects two Icelandic horses and their 6 week old foles at the Horse farm in Enderby.jpg

2011-06-26T20:57:00.001-07:00

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mcl buddy bear trying to get at marmot hiding under our wooden platform.jpg

2011-06-24T11:22:00.001-07:00

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mcl Stephanie and Brandon siign Wedding register.jpg

2011-06-11T15:29:00.001-07:00

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mcl Wedding preparations in full swing - my daughter Stephanie is to be married to Brandon Walker - I will be leading her down the isle just after 3pm

2011-06-11T12:00:00.001-07:00

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Ben's Afghan Kit is on display at the War Museum in Kelowna.jpg

2011-05-14T14:32:00.001-07:00

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Ben with Martin Cole who served with Canadian Air Force in Second World War.jpg

2011-05-14T14:27:00.001-07:00

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Ben wearing his Medal for service in Afghanistan.jpg

2011-05-14T14:12:00.001-07:00

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Corporal Ben McLoughlin parades with the BC Dragoons on the occasion of their 100th Anniversary in Kelowna out front of City Hall.jpg

2011-05-14T13:02:00.001-07:00

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Samoan Fire Dance performed by Mua of Second Wave fame at NL 25th Anniversary

2011-05-07T21:22:00.001-07:00

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New Life Church 25th - Banquet with 300 videos dances stories worship and a blessing by Pastor Mark Gordon that God watches over and makes New Life a blessing to the church of Kelowna

2011-05-07T19:45:00.001-07:00

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Turtle family basks in the sun while sitting on a log floating in our pond as seen through the 20mm lens of my telescope.jpg

2011-05-07T12:21:00.001-07:00

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Norman Strauss singing Our Father in Heaven - Holy is your name - at New Life Church Kelowna 25th Anniversary Celebration - Event goes all weekend at the Main Street campus.jpg

2011-05-06T19:41:00.001-07:00

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Sam the Graduate with Ward Gasque (cofounder of Regent) & Stan and Ruth Cummings (longstanding members of Granville chapel from which Regent College was birthed) - Sam was dedicated to God at Granville in 1985. Ward, Stan and Ruth were there 26 yrs ago!

2011-04-29T22:06:00.001-07:00

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mcl my son Sam McLoughlin is graduating from Regent College with a Masters in Christian Studies tonight

2011-04-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

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mcl Mike riding the Canada Line train towards YVR Airport - There is NO driver on this train! I am looking straight out the front of it!.jpg

2011-04-28T21:58:00.001-07:00

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CANUCKS WIN WIN WIN!.jpg

2011-04-28T20:38:00.001-07:00

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Luongo SAVES A BREAKAWAY.jpg

2011-04-28T20:11:00.001-07:00

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CANUCKS SCORE SCORE SCORE.jpg

2011-04-28T19:29:00.001-07:00

But maybe not! YES! It IS!
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mcl Mike and Sam are at the opening game of Canucks vs Predators GO CANUCKS GO!.jpg

2011-04-28T18:01:00.001-07:00

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McLoughlin Easter dinner with the Ballards 2011

2011-04-25T18:29:00.001-07:00

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mcl spring minature daffodils are now out at 3190 hall road.jpg

2011-04-17T17:49:00.001-07:00

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Sue enjoys her last Five Dollar Friday Ski Night at Big White - Night skiing ends tomorrow!.jpg

2011-04-01T20:08:00.001-07:00

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mcl pond at 3190 Hall Road is free of ice.jpg

2011-03-23T18:49:00.001-07:00

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mcl sue on Corkscrew run by Powder chair at Big White near Kelowna - what abeautiful day it is.jpg

2011-03-20T11:54:00.001-07:00

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How BIG is God? Watch this video to find out. Intergalactic Scale | Khan Academy

2011-03-09T07:22:00.001-08:00

via khanacademy.org

Consider that God created it all and oversees it all!

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Mike and Sue McLoughlin enjoying dinner at Dawett restaurant on Ellis St courtesy of the Medi-Kel cleaners! Thank You!

2011-03-06T13:12:00.001-08:00

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mcl Sue enjoying a view of Mission Creek spring melt under a setting sun.jpg

2011-02-16T16:43:00.001-08:00

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mcl a BC Ferry squeezes by our ferry in Active Pass - I am on my way home from a visit with my sister in Victoria.jpg

2011-02-03T15:56:00.001-08:00

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mcl My daughter Stephanie is 21 Years old today!

2011-01-09T18:49:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Stephanie!
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mcl Mike trying on weird John Lennon glasses at Lenscrafter.jpg

2011-01-06T17:54:00.001-08:00

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Buddy Bear races to defend our backyard against intrusion

2010-11-30T21:25:00.001-08:00

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Corporal Ben McLoughlin standing at his post at the Kelowna Cenotaph - this is his first ceremony as a veteran since returning from service in Afghanistan in May

2010-11-11T10:32:00.001-08:00

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NL Wesley + Stacey Campbell reinstated as Elders at New Life Church Kelowna by vote of membership tonight - God proves Himself faithful once again.jpg

2010-11-07T21:55:00.001-08:00

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mcl my friend Don Unger with new Resonnator Guitar built in Smithers BC by Mark Thibault and Jason Friesen.jpg

2010-11-06T19:33:00.001-07:00

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mcl Fall Colours reflected in a Hall Road pond.jpg

2010-11-03T17:39:00.001-07:00

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Mike & Sue McLoughlin at 2010 Medical Grad Reunion Dinner

2010-09-11T21:38:00.001-07:00

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Mike at TRIUMF Cyclotron located at the UBC Campus in Vancouver for Sue's 25th Med School Grad Reunion Tour

2010-09-11T11:36:00.001-07:00

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mcl Mike vists the Cyclotron Control Room at Triumf - Sue says this reminds her of Mikes office.jpg

2010-09-11T11:31:00.001-07:00

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How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use [Security]

2010-09-08T15:26:00.001-07:00

How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use

You know how important strong passwords are, but you've got a huge backlog of passwords—some you can't remember, others you've been using for years. Here's how to securely update, create, and manage your passwords on any computer.

Image via kobakou.

It's not necessarily a 10-minute job, especially if you've got a lengthy backlog of passwords you've abandoned or rarely use. But it's a multi-step process you can break up, and it's actually pretty simple:

Set up a smart system for creating passwords

Recover your old, barely protective passwords in a secure fashion

Install a single extension/plug-in across your browsers and mobile devices

Stick with the new system across all web sites

It's hard to understate the importance of having uniformly strong passwords that aren't the same on every site. Simple passwords, or those with words in the dictionary, are easy enough to crack on their own. There are, however, seemingly legitimate web services that can betray your password, and if you're using the same or similar passwords on your email, banking, or other sites, you're pretty much done for.

The same domino-falling theory applies to sites that email your password back to you when you request it. If you simply archive or let those emails fall into the depths of your inbox, anyone with access to your email can simply search something like "requested password" or "password recovery" and dig a huge tunnel under your entire online life.

So let's set up your passwords so that no person or computer can guess your passwords, no inadvertent password revelation uncovers your entire system, and your secure passwords are still easy to use—you don't even have to enter them, in most cases.

Step One: Create Your Password System

One of the most frequently linked features from Lifehacker's early days is Gina's guide to choosing and remembering great passwords—and for good reason. Gina's system is secure enough that a computer can't break it, but logical enough that a human can remember it.

In a nutshell, Gina suggests coming up with a base password that you use for every site. It can be anything but a simple word, and it should be easy for that person to memorize. If you're a huge fan of The Smiths, for example, you might end up with $ppplmgwiw$ as your root password—the first letters of "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want," of course, book-ended by or interspersed with non-alphanumeric characters for added security.

The next step suggested is to "combine this base with some extra information unique to the service." In other words:

You may use your base password with the first two consonants and the first two vowels of the service name. Say your base password is "asdf." ... Then your password for Yahoo would be ASDFYHAO, and your password for eBay would be ASDFBYEA.

Something simpler—but along the same lines—might involve the same letters to start (say, your initials and a favorite number) plus the first 3 letters of a service name. In that case, my password for Amazon would be GMLT10AMA and for Lifehacker.com GMLT10LIF.

It's a smart idea, but I'd add just a little more paranoid security to the mix. Rather than always tacking your site-specific variations at the end of your password, consider adding them in the middle of your base password, or using them along with special characters to bracket your base password. So if your base password, as a lifelong Electric Light Orchestra fan, was **elolynne**, and you were creating a password for Amazon.com, you should try something like **amelolynneon**, with the first and last two letters of "amazon" surrounding the password, or **aaoelolynne**, using the first three vowels of Amazon in front of your password.

Why the slightly more paranoid setup? Because we are, every so often, forced to give up our passwords—either to close friends with our permission, or when it's given up inadvertently by site security mishaps or our own dumb moves. If someone saw that your password for Amazon.com was **elolynne**zon, they'd pretty quickly guess that you've got a common root and a pretty simple last-three-letters scheme going for all your passwords. It's much harder to guess from **aaoelolynne** what's going on, unless someone has heard your in-car rendition of "Strange Magic."

What about sites where special characters aren't allowed? Or sites that cap passwords at a sadly small number of characters? Simply adapt as best you can. Switch in a significant number in place of your special character brackets, or fill out the password as usual to the character limit. You'll just rely on your password storage system, detailed below, to remind you of such exceptions to your rule.

So, there we go—we know how to create secure passwords for sites, which neither hackers nor overly snoopy friends can hack open all at once. Once you've picked out your password management system, you can start tracking your new logins with ease. But you've already created a bunch of passwords for sites, so let's go fix those first.

Step Two: Recover and Change Your Old, Busted Passwords

Now it's time to do the drudge work. You're going to go back through web site usernames, passwords, and security questions, and clean them up. There is, unfortunately, no magic tool to make this easy, or save you the click-click-click work, but we do have some tips that can help.

First off, clean out your email inbox as best you can, or at least make a note of when you started doing password cleanup. That makes it easy to find and entirely delete the emails you'll receive when recovering passwords you can't remember, or authorizing password changes.

If you've got an older, hardly-ever-used email address that a lot of passwords are tied to, it's time to consolidate that email address into Gmail, or use the IMAP settings in Yahoo, Hotmail, or your other preferred email client to import that old address. Otherwise, it's probably time to log in one last time, set up auto-forwarding to your newer address that you actually use, then close that account forever—it's nothing but a security liability.

On those sites where it is possible, change over to a standard username, so you can use your new password system without having to guess at the other piece of the puzzle.

Similarly, protect your accounts from security question hackers by changing up the answers to your security questions. The standard questions—middle names, maiden names, childhood streets and schools—can be researched and discovered—sometimes very easily—so choose your own questions, whenever possible, or use commenter Srwight's tip and answer different questions entirely, with a translation key.

Now it's up to you to go ahead and change your password on the sites where you can remember your original password, and recover your password from the others. The "Forgot password?", "Need help logging in?", and similar links are usually located under or next to the boxes for entering a username and password. Click them, grab the email or text message, log in again, and delete the email immediately after changing your password. This is crucial—you don't want anyone who somehow gets into your email knowing how you changed your password to a site, or, even worse, recovering even an old password from sites that make the dumb move of sending your password to you.

The most important sites to fix, right up front, are those where bad people could get at your personal life, your work, and your money. That means, as a short list, you should prioritize your email, banking, work-related, and primary shopping sites. Head to every site you can think of using regularly, recover your password, change it to use your new system, then delete the emails that resulted from your change.

Step Three: Keep Your Passwords Stored and Safe

Every modern browser offers some kind of system for saving your passwords and automatically filling them in when you next visit a page. This is, as you might guess, a pretty bad thing to have enabled if your laptop ever gets stolen, or if the wrong people get access to your computer some other way. Here's a look at a few of your much better options.

Firefox: Master Password, Password Timeout, and Sync

If you're a Firefox devotee, you're good to go using Firefox's built-in password saving system. When you enter your new passwords, go ahead and click "Remember" on the drop-down bar that appears. Just be sure to enable the Master Password feature from Firefox's preferences, then use a master password that has more than eight characters, includes special characters, and no dictionary words—basically, like your password scheme invented above. In fact, it's not a terrible idea to use the root of your password scheme as your Master Password, as that helps reinforce the scheme in your memory.

Beyond that, you might want to install the Master Password Timeout add-on, so that if you step away from your computer or leave Firefox idle for a certain period, your system won't betray your password scheme.

Finally, if you want to ensure that your passwords are backed up and hard-drive-crash-proof, install Firefox Sync. It's a built-in feature of the upcoming Firefox 4, but it works well now to keep your passwords backed up to the cloud (or your own server, if you'd prefer). Using Sync for passwords requires both a standard password and a "secret phrase," so you might want to use your standard password root for the password, then write down your secret phrase on paper and store it secure, just in case.

Every browser: LastPass

If you're on a browser other than Firefox, or use more than one browser, we see LastPass as the best way to store your passwords and easily access them to automatically log into any site. I've previously detailed the winning characteristics of LastPass in a post on the easy, any-browser, any-os password solution. The short version: LastPass offers browser plug-ins for all the majors—Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera—along with stand-alone apps, portable apps, and bookmarklets for use on other systems. You can also just get at your passwords by logging in at the LastPass site, and if you're ever in a cafe or other spot where you're not quite sure about the security, LastPass supports one-time passwords for extra security.

After signing up for a LastPass account and installing a plug-in for your current browser, you can save yourself a good bit of time by importing your passwords from that browser's password manager—look in the Tools section of the LastPass preferences for the option. You can also import passwords from nearly any notable browser or password/encryption manager through your "vault" on the LastPass site. But you'll likely populate LastPass as you go along, filling in your new, stronger passwords and allowing LastPass to save them. Once you're set up and comfortable, you'll also want to disable your browser's own password-saving system, so it stops nagging you, and wipe out any passwords already saved internally through your browser's preferences.

Finally, you'll want to take the same precautions with LastPass as we took with Firefox—set up a kind of Master Password to enable all the handy auto-filling. It's a setting ("Automatically logoff when all browsers are closed ...") in the General section of the LastPass add-on preferences, and you should set a reasonable timeout for it—15 minutes is about fine by my standards.

Other Password Systems

Firefox's built-in password manager and the LastPass plug-ins are far from the only computer tools for managing passwords. KeePass is a reader favorite, and a system we've previously featured in a how-to guide. It's also a good bit more hands-on than LastPass or Firefox, and requires the user to be in charge of the "vault." But if you like that kind of independence, or want to try something different, check out KeePass or any of the best password managers out there.

Keep the Practice Going

The hardest part of fixing your faulty passwords? Having the will and conviction to recover, change, and update your passwords on sites where you still remember your old, cruddy password. Password security is one area of computing where leaving well enough alone is a terrible idea.

My wife once used a simple nine-character password, with a cute name involved, to protect most of her accounts, including Gmail. After she got hacked and sent every single friend, co-worker, previous co-worker, and even long-ago Craigslist contacts a message about "Hot Electronics Deals!3!#," she started gradually updating her web passwords whenever she had the time. You, too, should keep in mind that while it's an annoying five minutes to click a link, check an email, and save a new password, it's an excruciating week of apologies, fixes, and account recovery if your web life falls prey to a simple brute force password attack.
How have you fixed up your passwords without too much pain? What tools or tips made it simple to create a new security scheme? We welcome your tips in the comments.
Send an email to Kevin Purdy, the author of this post, at kevin@lifehacker.com.

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Great article on making your passwords more secure online. Everything you need to know.

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Malibu welcome crowd of campers and staff all ready to high five the new arrivals like Sue

2010-09-06T17:43:00.001-07:00

Some photos
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Jack McLoughlin as a prisoner of war in 1917 - he is standing in upper right of the photo - He is my grandfather!

2010-08-27T11:31:00.001-07:00

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British Belgium French Russian prisoners after sports in Germany 1917 - My great grandfather Jack McLoughlin is sitting in the centre front

2010-08-27T11:26:00.001-07:00

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Scrabble win - Despite finishing with Q and V left over letters

2010-08-26T18:13:00.001-07:00

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mcl Scrabble move that puts me in the lead - EON earns me 22 points from triple letter score and two additional words.jpg

2010-08-26T17:38:00.001-07:00

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mcl Ben trys out the Outdoor Fitness machines at a local Courtenay Fitness park.jpg

2010-08-25T17:06:00.001-07:00

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mcl Mike & Sarah - my Mum -with a full moon rising above Texada Island in the background.jpg

2010-08-24T20:20:00.001-07:00

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mcl Gran welcomes Sue to the farm.jpg

2010-08-24T20:15:00.001-07:00

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mcl Sun sets behind Mount Washington.jpg

2010-08-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

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mcl Welcome to Courtenay our Sienna van is seen in silhouette in the foreground.jpg

2010-08-24T19:53:00.001-07:00

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mcl Sue's determined visage reflected in a Young Life Camp name button - Sue is driving us north to our destination

2010-08-24T19:44:00.001-07:00

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mcl Mount Washington in the distance as we travel Highway 19 north.jpg

2010-08-24T19:32:00.001-07:00

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mcl Qualicum Beach in the evening - No change here - Same place it has always been since we were teens

2010-08-24T19:17:00.001-07:00

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mcl In Parksville we are taking the scenic route - Notice the palm trees by the sign.jpg

2010-08-24T18:57:00.001-07:00

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mcl Listening to Audio Book War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy as we drive north to Comox.jpg

2010-08-24T18:54:00.001-07:00

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mcl And now for the Whitespot desert Blueberry pies for only $3.00 extra.jpg

2010-08-24T18:10:00.001-07:00

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mcl Fajita Salad Feast at Whitespot on the way to Comox to visit my Mum & Dad at the Farm.jpg

2010-08-24T17:40:00.001-07:00

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mcl Travel to Vancouver Island via Horshoebay - Despite there being FOUR big signs like this one we STILL MISSED the turn off to the ferries and had to doubleback. looks like we will miss the 230 and settle for 310.jpg

2010-08-24T13:53:00.001-07:00

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I am listening to the audio book - Cognitive Surplus by Clay Shirkey + Just cancelled my Bell TV Account + Now I know what to do with all that free time ;)

2010-07-18T09:33:00.001-07:00

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Sue choosing a canoe for her pond from ancient Huron designs

2010-07-16T13:27:00.001-07:00

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Mike + Ben viewing the Waterfalls at Montmorency just outside of Quebec City

2010-07-16T11:56:00.001-07:00

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