Because the Welcome screen shows every user account, if you don't set passwords, anyone who has physical access to your computer can log on by simply clicking a name on the Welcome screen. If the chosen name belongs to an administrator account, the person who clicks it has full, unfettered access to every file and setting on the computer. Requiring a password for each account (particularly administrator accounts) goes a long way toward securing your computer.

• Creating a Secure Password:

By observing the following guidelines, you can create a password that's difficult to crack in a reasonable amount of time:

• Use at least eight characters. Longer is better, which is why some security experts suggest using a pass phrase. A password or phrase can (and should) include spaces and punctuation; the maximum length is 127 characters.
• Use a mixture of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and punctuation.
• Avoid including your name or user name in the password.
• Use random sequences instead of words, or intersperse numbers and punctuation within words.


• Setting a Password:

  The simplest way to set a password for yourself or for another user (if you have administrator privileges) is with User Accounts in Control Panel. Click the name of the user for whom you want to set a password and then click Create A Password. To change your password, you must provide your old password as well as a new one.

  You can use other account management tools to set a password, but User Accounts is the only tool (along with Ctrl+Alt+Delete) that lets you specify a password hint. The password hint appears after you click your name on the Welcome screen and type your password incorrectly. Be sure your hint is only a subtle reminder-not the password itself-because any user can click your name and then view the hint.

• Recovering from a Lost Password:

Sometimes you forget your password. Windows offers two tools:

• Password hint: Your hint (if you've created one) appears below the password entry box after you make an incorrect entry and then click OK. You can create a hint when you set a password with User Accounts.
• Password reset disk: A password reset disk allows you (or anyone with your password reset disk) to change your password-without needing to know your old password. As standard practice, each user should create a password reset disk and keep it in a secure location. Then, if a user forgets the password, he or she can reset it using the password reset disk.

Both solutions require a little forethought on your part. You must create the hint when you set your password, and you must create the password reset disk before you actually need it.

To create a password reset disk, you'll need to know your current password and you'll need to have removable media available. (You can use a USB flash drive, external hard drive, or memory card.) Follow these steps:

1. Log on using the account for which you want to create a password reset disk.
2. If you want to use a USB flash drive as a password reset disk, insert it in your computer's USB slot.
3. In Control Panel, open User Accounts.
4. In the left pane, click Create A Password Reset Disk to launch the Forgotten Password wizard.
5. Follow the wizard's instructions.

You can have only one password reset disk for each user account. If you make a new one, the old one is no longer usable.

To use the password reset disk, do the following:

1. On the logon screen, make an entry in the password box. If you guess right, you're in! If you're wrong, Windows informs you that the password is incorrect.
2. Click OK. The logon screen reappears, but with additional text below the password box.
3. If the first bit of additional text, your password hint, jogs your memory, enter your password. If not, click Reset Password to open the Password Reset wizard.

   The Password Reset wizard asks for the location of the password reset disk, reads the encrypted key, and then asks you to set a new password, which it then uses to log you on. Your password reset disk remains usable; you don't need to make a new one.