The most common password can't protect yourself online. Instead, you should use a passphrase.
A passphrase is a string of unrelated words that is easier to remember than a password with complex characters: “bottle baseball shark trophy”. Combining easy to remember words creates a longer password: “bottlebaseballsharktrophy”.
Hackers can use software that makes millions of guesses in a very short time period. Length makes a password much harder to crack. 11-character passwords will take a computer 3 days, at 1000 guesses per second, to crack. “bottlebaseballsharktrophy” will take the same system 500 years to guess.
Using symbols, numbers, and capital letters can make a password slightly more secure but advanced software can easily search these symbols, so what matters more is the length your password.
A passphrase will give you a longer, complex password that’s easy to remember. And no more sticky notes with passwords laying around.
Just remember: NO PASSWORD COMPETELY SAFE!