I would just add to this that:

Some OS's / applications truncate all characters after char=x, example, in some versions of SAP all characters after 6 are ignored.
So be sure and know this as a password such as jOh N d_03 15 133t ,is rendered much less effective as jOh N (there is a space after N) by any OS/application that truncates passwords to 6 characters in this example.

Special characters are sometimes not an option which rules out #,$,@,*,&,^, you get the idea. But by all means use them when available.

Similar to my example above, (and those given by others) an easy way to remember a complex and strong password is to make it a badly spelled phrase:


4 T 93rz r_tHE B0 mb

,may not be the absolute coolest password ever, but is satisfies many of the strong password characteristics mentioned above.

Change passwords relatively often (90 days?), and don't use any of the same 3 characters together in your next password. In fact try to use no characters from your first password in your next one.

Great post!!