5. Strong Password

Your passwords are the keys you use to access personal information that you've stored on your computer and in your online accounts. A password is strong when, you Make it lengthy. Each character that you add to your password increases the protection that it provides many times over. Your passwords should be 8 or more characters in length; 14 characters or longer is ideal.Many systems also support use of the space bar in passwords, so you can create a phrase made of many words (a "pass phrase"). A pass phrase is often easier to remember than a simple password, as well as longer and harder to guess. Combine letters, numbers, and symbols. The greater variety of characters that you have in your password, the harder it is to guess.

There are six steps to creating a strong password: 1. Think of a sentence that you can remember. 2. Check if the computer or online system supports the pass phrase directly. 3. If the computer or online system does not support pass phrases, convert it to a password. 4. Add complexity. 5. Finally, substitute some special characters. 6. Test your new password with Password Checker.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx.