No more passwords for me. - Tech Support Forums

M_Six · December 2nd, 2004, 10:03 PM

I'm amazed and a bit peeved that this hasn't been made more widely known by Microsoft. I just learned, from this EXCELLENT article, that you can use a simple passphrase instead of a password for all newer (Windows 2000 and up) MS operating systems. And any phrase longer than 10 characters is virtually impossible to crack. You can use spaces and capitalization and punctuation, just as you normally would. Phrases like "I love TIMO!" are almost impossible to crack. Who knew?

I just changed my password to a dirt simple, easy to type passphrase. I may institute this as a policy at my office.

LeftCoast · December 2nd, 2004, 10:12 PM

I'm changing my passwords to "I'm changing my passwords."

Cool article.

M_Six · December 3rd, 2004, 12:54 AM

Ok, another take on this. Three articles that attempt to quantify the benefits (or lack thereof) of passphrases.

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...mt/sm1004.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...mt/sm1104.mspx

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/com...mt/sm1204.mspx

Kuasimodem · December 3rd, 2004, 11:09 AM

I've been using passphrases for about 6 months now, I usually key them to the site that they're for and something personal.

Much easier to remember

zepper · December 3rd, 2004, 11:31 AM

I have long used two short, unrelated words separated with a random, non-alphabetical character (like AOL uses with their free offers - e.g. tinker!drake). That method has long been known to be one of the most difficult to crack.
.bh.

osprey4 · December 3rd, 2004, 11:37 AM

I always use the same password, seoifjwq35928345-293#@$GWERG$@32r30irqw983r243t34t4ttH^*%%#RHGW@43t 2309gfwjesakemw0439t34t3%Y#%YWERGW, or something like that.

M_Six · December 3rd, 2004, 12:25 PM

Be careful about using passphrases if you're still logging into an NT 4.0 domain. NT 4.0 doesn't like passphrases and you may find yourself getting locked out of your account.

**RobRich** · December 3rd, 2004, 12:34 PM

You can also use characters from the extended portion of the ASCII character set to deter password cracking.

http://sysopt.earthweb.com/articles/win2kpass/

bjkp · December 5th, 2004, 11:32 PM

Can you crack xp if you don't have a cd rom. isn't there a generic passord that microsoft can use?
Any ideas?

jmichna · December 5th, 2004, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjkp

Can you crack xp if you don't have a cd rom. isn't there a generic passord that microsoft can use?
Any ideas?

bjkp....
This thread topic is no where near the question you ask... and TIMO does not support or condone cracking of any software. You may want to re-think your post.
jmichna