I really like the draw pattern to unlock screen

TonyToews · 11-02-2011, 06:55 PM

So I'm a paranoid person and I have Bitlocker installed on my Windows 7 laptop so folks can't snoop.

Just for grins I thought I'd try the draw pattern to unlock screen. It's deceptively simple, easy to remember, and, I think, relatively secure. At least as secure as such things go without having an encrypted internal drive.

The way I figure it there are 45 possible moves for the first move.
4 corners are 4 moves each = 16
4 middle of edge are 5 moves each = 20
middle = 9
for a total of 45.

After that things get tricky trying to calculate the move but let's average it at 14. If you have 4 moves thats 45*14*14*14 which is 123, 480 possible moves. But the screen locks you out for 30 seconds after five attempts. So someone trying to break in is going to have a tough time.

(Why yes, I'm a paranoid pessimist. I'm a computer programmer. What's your point?

)

NotchJ · 11-02-2011, 07:27 PM

You understand that you you don't need to go from one circle to an adjacent one. For example if we put A,B,C on the X-axis and 1,2,3 on the Y-axis, your pattern can go from A1 to C2? Plus I think that there's just a minimum of 4 circle touches required - not sure what the maximum number is. So I don't know the math but that makes for a heck of a lot of combinations.

TonyToews · 11-02-2011, 07:31 PM

I did go diagonal if that's what you meant. You don't have go just vertical or horizontal.

NotchJ · 11-03-2011, 10:18 PM

Yes that's what I mean but people don't realize that you can do a 45 degrees diagonal or 60 degrees. For example, if you're in the top left, you can go over one and down one or over one and down two.

TonyToews · 11-04-2011, 12:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NotchJ

Yes that's what I mean but people don't realize that you can do a 45 degrees diagonal or 60 degrees. For example, if you're in the top left, you can go over one and down one or over one and down two.

Ohh, that never occurred to me that you could go 60 degrees on the diagonal.

Duhhhh.

Ok, that changes my calculations then. Hmm, I wonder if you can go around the center button? That is go from upper left to lower right.

11-02-2011, 06:55 PM	#1
TonyToews Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 351398 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Vox and Glo	I really like the draw pattern to unlock screen So I'm a paranoid person and I have Bitlocker installed on my Windows 7 laptop so folks can't snoop. Just for grins I thought I'd try the draw pattern to unlock screen. It's deceptively simple, easy to remember, and, I think, relatively secure. At least as secure as such things go without having an encrypted internal drive. The way I figure it there are 45 possible moves for the first move. 4 corners are 4 moves each = 16 4 middle of edge are 5 moves each = 20 middle = 9 for a total of 45. After that things get tricky trying to calculate the move but let's average it at 14. If you have 4 moves thats 451414*14 which is 123, 480 possible moves. But the screen locks you out for 30 seconds after five attempts. So someone trying to break in is going to have a tough time. (Why yes, I'm a paranoid pessimist. I'm a computer programmer. What's your point? )

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11-02-2011, 07:27 PM	#2
NotchJ Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Calgary Device: Kobo	You understand that you you don't need to go from one circle to an adjacent one. For example if we put A,B,C on the X-axis and 1,2,3 on the Y-axis, your pattern can go from A1 to C2? Plus I think that there's just a minimum of 4 circle touches required - not sure what the maximum number is. So I don't know the math but that makes for a heck of a lot of combinations.

11-02-2011, 07:31 PM	#3
TonyToews Evangelist Posts: 490 Karma: 351398 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: Kobo Vox and Glo	I did go diagonal if that's what you meant. You don't have go just vertical or horizontal.

11-03-2011, 10:18 PM	#4
NotchJ Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2010 Location: Calgary Device: Kobo	Yes that's what I mean but people don't realize that you can do a 45 degrees diagonal or 60 degrees. For example, if you're in the top left, you can go over one and down one or over one and down two.