Newcastle University

Which password?

Students have two passwords for use with their University Login Name:

• one is for use only with the S3P Student Self Service Portal;
• the other is used for almost all other University computer services: Clusters PCs, the docking service, VPN, the OWA email service, Blackboard, Library systems, etc.

The second ("main") password is part of the University's Windows Active Directory.

This Tip describes the main (Windows) password.

To change your Windows password

You can do this ...

1. When logged in at a University PC

Any time after logging in, press Ctrl-Alt-Del: Press down the Ctrl and Alt keys (bottom left) simultaneously and also press the Del key (bottom right); this presents the Windows Task Manager, one option of which is to change your password.

2. From within OWA

See http://www.ncl.ac.uk/iss/pre-arrival/passwordchange

(It does't matter what kind of computer you're using, or where.)

3. From the docking service

Go to https://docking.ncl.ac.uk/password.php

(It does't matter what kind of computer you're using, or where. This method also displays a "password strength" when you set a new password.)

Rules for passwords in Windows

Microsoft make complicated rules about Windows password choice: it would take too long here to list what you must, or must not, do! What follow are some recommendations:

In theory, you may use almost any character that is available, but ISS recommend that you use only UPPER-case and lower-case letters, and digits (numbers). Although Windows may accept other characters, other parts of the system may later reject them.

Remember also that at the University you will be using UK keyboards (i.e. non-English characters such as ö, é, ñ are not easily available).

Although punctuation characters (, ; & ^ ) are popular, they may not always work on all services which use the Windows password.

The way to set a password

You need something which is memorable, but not guessable.

Think of a phrase of eight words (or more) which contains at least one upper case (capital) letter and at least one number, and then use the initial letters of the phrase. For example:

“My black cat Whiskers is 9 years old” = MbcWi9yo
"I was born in Buenos Aires in 1987" = IwbiBAi87
“Alan Shearer scored 2 penalties against Man U” = ASs2paMU
"That boy with glasses and ginger hair is the one for me" = Tbwgaghi14me

Windows now also allows whole sentences, so in fact you could use "Whiskers is 9 years old".

You should now have a password which you can always remember, and nobody else can guess.

Caveat

• Even these methods are not foolproof, because by chance you may create a sequence of characters which Windows does not like: you may have to try a different combination. Note also that Windows (generally) will not accept your name as part of a password.
• Finally, remember that your password is cAsE-seNsiTive, which means that upper and lower case are different charaters. For example if you set your password to be "i92CCstob" then "I92CCstob" is not correct!