How To - Change your Windows Password

How To - Change your Windows Password

Changing your Windows password is easy and can be done whether you are in an office or remote while connected to VPN. The process only takes 1 minute to complete.
  1. Log into your computer with your current password and press Ctrl+Alt+Del
  2. Click on ‘Change a password’
  3. Type your old password first, then your new password twice to confirm (see complexity requirements below) and click OK to return to Windows.
  4. Immediately lock your computer by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Del and using the new password to unlock the PC.
  5. Log off (Press Ctrl+Alt+Del and click on ‘Log off’) and log back in using your new password.
  6. Update the applications that have your old password saved. See the following list.
Places you will have to update your Windows password:
  1. Okta - Your Okta login is directly tied to your Windows password. You can change your password through Okta or through Windows by following the steps above. If you change your password through Okta, start with step #4 above to store the password locally on your machine for your next login.
  2. Mobile devices - If you have a Cross provided mobile device and you connect to the Cross wireless network, you will need to go to your device's Wifi settings and specify the new password to connect to the network. Non-Cross mobile devices should connect to the “Cross Guest” wireless network
Password Complexity Requirements
  1. The maximum password age is 183 days
  2. You must have a password that is different from the last 9 that you’ve used
  3. The password must be at least 10 characters long
  4. The password cannot contain the username. If your username is ‘greg’. Your password can’t be ‘gregisdbomb!’
  5. It cannot contain any part of your name
  6. It must contain characters from three of the following four categories:
    1. English uppercase characters (A through Z)
    2. English lowercase characters (a through z)
    3. Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
    4. Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)
Passphrases are easy to remember and meet the requirements. Recent studies have shown that a complex random password of 8 characters is easier to crack than a longer password that uses a simple phrase. Yes, you can use a space in your password, too, and it counts as a special character.

Some ideas to help you:
  1. A favorite movie quote
  2. Three or four words with spaces and a punctuation mark
Make it something you’ll remember. Use spaces and punctuation, and never write it down, give it out, or enter it after clicking a link in an email you weren’t expecting.