Strengthen Windows XP passwords

When setting a password under the Windows operating system, it is possible to use only letters or numbers, or even nothing at all. This possibility isn’t very secure for the data stored on computers belonging to enterprises, or even for those at home for that matter. Here is how you can force a user to use alphanumeric passwords which contain a minimum number of characters. Two changes to the registry are required.

First you will need to start the Windows registry editor by clicking on the “Start” button at the bottom left hand corner of Windows. Next click on “Run”, and type “regedit” into the field that appears and press the OK button.

Once you are in the registry editor, go to the following tree location:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Network\

Select the “Network” folder from the left hand side and then right click on the blank space in the right hand window. From the drop down menu that appears, select “New” and then “DWORD Value”.

A new entry will then be visible. You will now need to change its name and value. Renaming is can be done by right clicking on it and selecting “Rename” from the drop down menu that appears. To change its value, select “Edit” from the same menu. When naming the key, call it “AlphanumPwds” and give it a value of “1”.

To finish the first step, create the same key in the following tree location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Network\