Set Passwords

The most common way computers are broken into is through an open (no password) Administrator or Guest account. This is much like leaving the front door to your house unlocked 24-7. Fortunately, putting a password on these accounts is also fairly easy to do. First, either take notes or print out these instructions so you can reference them during the process (you'll have to close the web browser).

Second you will need to create a password for the account. It is extremely important that the Administrator account has a strong password. A strong password consists of both letters and numbers. Do not include your name, birthday, address, or phone number as those are often the first things people will try when attempting to break into your computer. CITES gives the following advice for creating passwords. You can find other password tips on their Guide to Passwords page.

• Join two small words with a numeral; use uppercase and lowercase letters. For example: fUn4fiVe, are9mInt.
• Combine first letters from a phrase or quote; be sure to include uppercase letters, lowercase letters, and numerals. Lines from poems or songs work well. For example, take the line "Lucy in the sky with diamonds" and turn it into L1tS!wDm. (You can use numerals for letters that resemble them, such as the numeral 1 for the letter i, or the numeral 5 for the letters.)
• Extract vowels or consonants from words in a phrase, and mix in some non-alphabetic characters if necessary. For example, take the phrase "Bond, James Bond" and turn it into Bnd,jAm5b. Or take the phrase "New and Improved" and turn it into N3w&Mprvd.
• Create funny words by linking one or two consonants followed by one or two vowels and repeating the pattern. As always, mix in some numeric characters. These often are difficult to pronounce and may have little meaning, but they're easier to remember than random text. For example: cIebm3Al or wR3otSwy

Now, you'll need to log on to your computer as an Administrator. Click Start, then Log Off. At the Welcome Screen, press and hold the CTRL and ALT keys, and press the DELETE key twice. Now, you'll see a login screen. Type Administrator for the User Name, and enter your Administrator password. If you don't know what the password is, it is probably blank: leave the line empty. Click Ok to login.

Once your computer has finished logging in, go to Start=>Control Panel. Click on the icon for User Accounts. You will see a new window with an icon for each of the accounts in your computer. Click the icon for Administrator, then on the next screen click Create a password. You will see the following screen:

Enter a password for the account and click Create Password.

Now, to disable your Guest Account (recommended), go to Start=>Control Panel. Now find the Administrative Tools icon in the right. If you don't see this icon, click Switch to Classic View in the top right first. From the new window, double click Computer Management. You should see a window like this:

In the left side, under the System Tools heading, click the "+" next to Local Users and Groups to expand this section. Now click on the Users folder. You should see the users of this computer listed on the right.

To disable the guest account, find the account named Guest on the right and double-click on it. This will bring up a new window:

Check the box next to Account is disabled. Click OK to return to the previous screen.

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