why is both a user name and password need?

[FaceArt]

I use my e-mail address and a password and it works fine. What is a USERNAME USED FOR? IT DOESN'T SEEM NECESSARY. IT'S ONLY ANOTHER CRAZY NAME TO REMEMBER.

[M K]

It's just another Security attempt.
What site you are talking about? I never had to put in all these info.
Anyways, my PC fills it in for me after I chose "Remember me". Does not work on my mobile devices, though.

[J]

Unless you're using a website that's very security sensitive, such as online banking, or anything that stores personal information or credit cards, you can just use the same username and password for everything. Have one or two usernames and passwords that you use for every website you sign up for. That way you won't have dozens of usernames and passwords to remember. Some sites just use your email to log in, but many force you to pick a username. I tend to use the same 2 usernames for almost everything. Passwords can be used like this as well. Just please remember to pick a new password for anything sensitive or personal. You can use the same password for things like games and online forums, but for your own protection, please choose a new and unique password for anything that uses your social security number, credit card information, or access to your bank accounts or bills. You should always have a place where you write all these things down, so you don't forget things. Make sure your security questions are not too easy to guess.

Like someone else said, you can set your computer to remember your usernames and passwords for you. It will also work on certain mobile devices too. I use the iPhone, and it will remember certain things, especially if there's an app for it. Just adjust your settings.

[adaviel]

In general ?
Usernames predate email and the internet - the name is used to differentiate different users on a computer system, and accounts don't always need a password. There has to be something to label files and processes with - either a username you entered, or something the system made up.
While you could make a multi-user system that only needed a password to log on, and prevented anyone from choosing the same password, I've not seen such a thing. If you forgot your password, how would you tell the administrator who you where ?

On the internet, it has become common for sites to require an email address in order to allow people to reset their passwords without human intervention, and later sites realized that they could just use the primary email address as the user ID. But when the web started up, sites had passwords as that's what the computers the web designers used had.


Incidentally, don't use just one password everywhere. Sites get hacked, administrators are dishonest, and some sites just have bad security. Adobe was hacked and lost 230 million emails and passwords a few weeks back - not so good if that was also your email password and someone could reset your bank account password and clean you out.
(actually the passwords were encrypted, but as the hints were in clear, that's at least a million easily guessable)

[Simply RED]

Websites like Facebook, youtube and other sites require you to assign a username instead of your email address as your log in name. This is to prevent your email address from being exposed to the public so you don't get unsolicited emails. As for the password for each site that you signed in, you are required to give your email address so the site can have a means to get in touch with you. Now you may opt to use your email password as your password for a particular site but that is risky. They have a record of your email address and who knows, they might try using your site password to access your email address and viola, privacy breach!

[DunbarPappy®ϟϟ]

Don't rely on your memory to retain passwords. There's plenty of distractions in today's world, and password management should not be one of them.

Get yourself a solid 'Manager' to do the work for you.
"Last Pass" has a proven track record; it's cross-platform/device; it's free.
https://lastpass.com/

See this site for good strategy advice:
Password Do’s and Don’ts; Krebs on Security; http://krebsonsecurity.com/password-dos-and-donts/

(Do not follow "J" advice: it is the worst possible tactic.)