Share via

Using Strong Passwords

  • Article

Passwords can be the weakest link in the security scheme for your Site. It is recommended that you use strong passwords because they are harder to break. A strong password has the following characteristics:

  • Contains at least six characters.
  • Contains characters from each of the following three groups:
    • Uppercase and lowercase letters (A, a, B, b, C, c, and so on)
    • Numbers
    • Symbols (such as ` ~ ! @ # $ % ^ & * ( ) _ + - = { } | [ ] \ : " ; ' < > ? , . /)
  • Contains at least one symbol character in the second through sixth positions
  • Is significantly different from passwords previously used
  • Does not contain your name or user name
  • Is not a common word or name

For more information about strong passwords, see "Creating strong passwords" in Windows 2000 help.

Copyright © 2005 Microsoft Corporation.
All rights reserved.