Windows 2000 Administration in a Nutshell

Name

password

Secret part of a user’s credentials.

Passwords in Windows 2000 can be up to 128 characters long and can contain upper- and lowercase letters, numbers, and nonalphanumeric characters.

Here are some tips on using passwords in a Windows 2000 environment:

Assign the Administrator account a complex password, and keep it secure. If you are really paranoid (or believe that someone in your enterprise might be running password cracking software), change the password every week or so.
Let users control their own passwords. This frees administrators from maintaining lists of user passwords and places the onus of responsibility upon the user. It also removes the temptation for administrators to snoop in users’ home folders.
Educate users on how to select a password that is hard to crack. One suggestion is to think of an original and catchy phrase that is easy to memorize and then to form the password from the acronym generated by the phrase. For example, “I always brush my teeth two times per day” generates the password iabmt2tpd. Also educate users on what makes a bad password, such as your dog’s name, postal code, phone number, and so on.
Prohibit users from changing their passwords if multiple users share the same user account. For example, do this for temporary employees using a temporary account or the Guest account for network access.
Required passwords for services or applications should be non-expiring.