Passwords

Passwords are the locks to doors; without a secure password anyone can walk right into your digital doors. Using a secure password will protect your personal information and your computer. The following tips will help you secure your computer and personal information.

Change your administrator password
It is hard to believe, but most computers with Windows XP preinstalled do not have an administrator password set. Spyware may exploit this opportunity and install software without your knowledge.
Learn how to set the administrator password for Windows XP

Use strong passwords
Choosing a strong password can be more difficult that it may seem. Select something that is hard to guess, yet easy to remember. Using your birthday, address, or siblings/child's/spouses name are not secure as they are easy to guess. Of course memorizing 10 random letter and numbers is not good either as it is too hard to remember. You will need to come up with a custom system to generate passwords; below we have outlined some options to generate better passwords.

Generating better passwords
Good passwords contain are eight or more alpha-numeric characters (a-z 0-9). Better passwords are at least ten characters long and contain special (#$?@+;,.<>`~%[]{}^&*!), upper and lower case characters.

hawkeye - poor
iowahawkeye - ok (longer)
hawkeye999 - good (numbers, letters, length)
1mah@wkeyE - better (case, numbers, letters, special characters, length)

bees1 - poor (too easy to guess, length)
saubees1 - ok (longer but easy to guess)
thebeesrock1 - good (longer and harder to guess)
S@ubee$r0cK - better (case, numbers, letters, special characters, length)

Develop your own system for changing passwords and keep it a secret. There are limitless ways to develop vastly complex passwords using easy to remember information. Feel free to combine some or all of the following ideas, and don't be afraid to develop some of your own!

Ch@ng3 c0mm0n ch@racter$, uSe cAsE, duupliicaatiioon, smashwordstogether, 26add743 numbers369

Don't use the same password for all your online applications
If one of your passwords is compromised you don't want all of your information available. Using different passwords for different applications will ensure your privacy remains more secure.

Change your passwords
At St Ambrose, your password expires every 90 days. You should also change your passwords for online bank accounts, email, and instant messaging on a regular basis.