Windows 8, the new OS released on October 21, 2012, represents the biggest change to Microsoft’s operating system since the launch of Windows 95, aiming to improve its user experience on mobile devices, say, tablets, to be more practical and competitive when fights with other mobile operation systems like Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Among all these new features, the changes on logon authentication methods attract many attentions.
Firstly, the account in Windows 8 differs. You can have a local account as in other systems, and you can also have the other account ¨C Microsoft account. Besides, in Windows 8, every user is enabled to log in to their local accounts through three different means. Except for the traditional text password, they are allowed to log in through picture password and PIN code, which are regarded as a useful way to reduce the likelihood of Windows 8 password recovery when forget them. So, with these new account features, what can we do to make full use of these new features and then make Windows 8 PC as secure as possible?
A local account is the same as any account you’ve ever used to log in to a Windows system. It grants you access to the system’s resources in your own user space. It can be an administrator account as well as a standard account. Normally, in order to protect local account security, users tend to create a user name and password for it. An administrator account has the ability to change passwords for any other account. Therefore, if you are not the admin account, make sure the admin account is reliable. Besides, since each account can be allowed to create a text password and also a picture password or PIN code, try to make full use of this feature. When you create your text password, try to make your password at least 8 characters long with complicated combination of uppercase/ lowercase letters, special symbols and base digits. You shouldn’t use the same passwords of other account as your login password. Try to make it unique. For the picture password, the gestures for your picture password shouldn¡¯t be a common one. You also need to keep the screen of your Windows 8 clean. Once there are smudges on your screen, it is possible that your gestures can be revealed from the fingerprints.
Microsoft account is a rebranding of any of a number of previous accounts for Microsoft products. If you’ve ever had a Microsoft Passport, a Windows Live ID, an Xbox Live account, a Hotmail account, or any other Microsoft related account, then you’ve already got a Microsoft account. It allows you to log in your Windows 8 devices through any of these accounts. A Microsoft account uses an email address rather than a username to log in. In order to secure your Microsoft account, we have a lot of measures to take. Here are four suggestions: Firstly, you should put thought into your Microsoft account password. You’d better make your password 16 characters long and make it complicated. Anyway, password recovery for Windows 8 is much easier than the process to reset Windows 7 password. You can also put numbers and symbols at the beginning or middle instead of the end. Though Microsoft recommends users add as much information as possible. I don’t think it’s a good way. That’s fine until someone breaches their security and is logged into your account with full access to all of it. Also, make sure to check the email address associated with your Microsoft account often so that you can monitor changes to your Microsoft account.