We're all familiar with these questions, I have even used something similar on this site you can use as last ditch effort to recover an account. They make recovery of passwords usually an easy venture but what you may not be aware of is that many accounts get hacked because of them. It could be just as easy for someone else to answer these questions. This might be your spouse, ex wife or girlfriend, co worker or someone that just doesn't like you. The recent example of Sarah Palin's mail account getting hacked is a prime example. I believe the question was "What High School did you got to?" or some similar question where the answer was easily found. Some of the other questions may not be easily found but it doesn't preclude someone that knows you from knowing the answer.
The solution is quite simple... Lie. Most of these questions will allow any answer.
Q: What's your first pets name?
A: biyregrbivnygntvgnterthnb
Don't use Astro either.
Of course that screws up the reason for them in the first place which is to make it easy for you to remember. There are other solutions for that specifically password lockers. I'll recommend
Keepass, this will allow you store all your passwords in one place locally on your own computer. The file itself is encrypted and password protected if someone gains physical control of your computer. The software allows for many other things besides listing the username and password, there's a notes section and you could for example use different answers for these question on every site.
