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Creating a New User Account in Windows Vista
And Assigning a Secure Password

From Tony Bradley, CISSP-ISSAP, for About.com

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  1. Click Start (its disguised as the little Windows logo ball at the bottom left of the screen)
  2. Select Control Panel
  3. Choose Add or remove user accounts under User Accounts and Family Safety
    Note: If you have switched from the Vista Control Panel to the Classic View, you will choose User Accounts and then click Manage another account
  4. If you are prompted with a User Account Control (UAC) authorization, click Continue
  5. Click on Create a new account
  6. Type a name for the new user account
  7. Select the account type for the new account
    • Standard user is the recommended option for most users and the default choice in Windows Vista
    • Administrator accounts have complete access to the operating system and may lead to unwanted system changes or elevated privileges for malware attacks. Use the Administrator account only when necessary.
  8. Click the Create Account button
  9. It appears that you are done, but if you want to make the account secure there are a few more steps. Windows Vista creates the user account without a password by default
  10. Click on the user account you just created to make changes to it
  11. Choose the Create a password option
  12. Enter a password in the New password field
    Note: Choose a secure password that you can remember, but that can not be easily guessed or cracked
  13. Enter the password again in the Confirm new password field
  14. As an option, you can also enter a password hint in the Type a password hint field
    Note: The password hint is displayed after failed logon attempts. Be careful how explicit your hint is because anyone else attempting to log on to your PC will also be able to see the password hint. You don't want the hint to be so obvious that anyone can guess your password.
  15. Click the Create password button
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