I would like some advice on how to keep my personal data safe.

[hollysmom]

1. passwords

I use the same one for message boards, who cares if some one steals it. As for more sensitive stuff, I use separate and unique ones, but ones that are buried in my child hood - my stuffed pet giraffe's name and the age I was when I had it, books I read and the number of the series I read, - I keep a note pad and I put this descriptive information down not the actual passwords, I will remember my stuffed giraffes name, but will the thief? heck I asked my sister and she didn't even remember I had a pet giraffe. I have separate e-mails for my bank, my taxes, my paypal and for E-bay. I don't get scams that way. I get paypal scams all the time in my day to day e-mail, but not the paypal only account. Makes it easy to manage, but you have to remember to check each e-mail once a month so it does not expire.