Favorite passwords: "1234" and "password"

I know this is an AFP story, but... 'European keyboards'??????? Why is it that U.S. based reporters keep mislabeling French things as 'European', as if Europe was one big French suburb?? The AZERTY keyboard layout is used exclusively in French-speaking countries, meaning France and Belgium only (not even Canada!). All the rest of Europe uses QWERTY or QWERTZ variants. Get your facts straight before insulting a whole continent and embarrassing yourself.

Sure, people using bad passwords is a major issues - but it's not the problem, it's a symptom. The problem is people can't remember passwords, so they get by with what they can.

Password managers are built specifically to make good passwords (unlike the ones listed about) and save them for folks (so they don't have to remember).

I'm a Passpack.com co-founder so yes, I'd love for you to give it a try. But there is plenty of software out there that does this.

How about writing a round up?

Or, get this, you can simply REMEMBER your passwords. It's not that hard to have 20 or 30 unique passwords stored in your head. You just have to exert a little mental effort trying to remember it as you create it.

Sheesh, it's not rocket science. :)