To add to that - people have been known to use the same password for every account thay have.

I believe the reason for having passwords change frequently is that even strong passwords can be cracked within a few months. By having people change their passwords every 75 days or so, it is thought that that is the timeframe in which their old password is on the verge of being cracked. Of course, their password may have been compromised within the first day. Instead of having a static password that must be changed every 90 days or so, I think it would be better to use a dynamic password that is changed every time the user logs on. The user can have a fob that has a random number that changes every 30 seconds. The password would consist of a static part that would not change and add the dynamic part that would be displayed on thier security fob at the time they want to log on. So the password could be 12 numbers long, consisting of 6 numbers that never change and 6 numbers that are only available for 30 seconds. The password protection should only be as strong as the information that needs to be protected is sensitive. I don't think a company would want to incur the expense of key fobs to protect an e-mail account, but they would want to use as much security as possible to protect sensitive proprietary data.

I am in agreement with you. It is not isolated to only computers, either. I see this everywhere. Has our society degraded to the point that we are no longer expected to take responsibility for anything? If the product is genuinely defective, then the consumer has the right to return it for one that works. If the consumer purchases something that they don't know how to use, it is their responsibility to learn to use the product or not purchase it in the first place. In this case, the woman wanted a computer to use for an online school. Apparently, she was familiar with Windows and wanted a Windows OS. Dell sent her a computer with Ubuntu, which she is unfamiliar with. I think it is her responsibility to either make Dell send her a computer with Windows or learn to use Ubuntu. I don't think she should call the local news and complain that it is Dell's fault she can't go to school.