Protecting Yourself from Hackers

Computer attacks, data breaches and cases of identity theft are a by-product of the information age. Here are some tips about how to protect your accounts and passwords:
• The basics: A strong password is at least seven characters long, has a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, and the same password shouldn’t be used for all of your online activities.
• Words and acronyms work: If you don't want to use a combination of letters, numbers and symbols, at least keep in mind single word passwords are easier to break than multiple word passwords. Instead of "monkey," use something like "orangemonkey" or "bigmonkeyface."
• Manage multiple passwords: Come up with a system to better remember each of them, such as adding a relevant letter to the front, middle or end of the password — "b" for banking, "s" for shopping, "f" for Facebook or "d" for an online dating site.
• Change it up: Every so often, change passwords. The longer you keep the same password, the greater the chance someone could guess it, share it and use the information against you. Don’t share your password.
• A step ahead: Google offers a two-step authentication process, which serves as an extra security measure to protect your online accounts from being compromised. Many other companies are using two-step authentication, as well.
• Public Enemy No. 1: If you're using a public computer such as a shared PC at a library, café or airport lounge — be sure not to do private things (such as online banking). Use the mouse on an onscreen keyboard offered by Windows if you must enter a password.
Losing your Windows administrator password can be a real pain. In addition, you won't be able to change to a new password unless you know the old one. Windows Password Breaker is a kind of favorite and portable toolkit to reset Windows password for all popular Windows OS.

How to Reset Windows XP Password for Free?

Windows XP uses a password to allow users to log onto the system. When you use a password to get into a different account on the computer, you can implement different settings and preferences for that account. If you have forgotten Windows  password to get onto an account, you can reset it without paying for the help of a computer technician. You can do it yourself for free.
Method 1: Reset Windows XP Password with Installation CD
Step 1 : Start the computer up with the Windows XP Installation CD in the computer's CD drive.
Step 2 : Accept the EULA when prompted.
Step 3 : Press the "R" button when you are asked if you want to repair your computer system.
Step 4 : Wait for the computer to restart and then come to a screen that reads "Press Any Key to Continue".
Step 5 : Allow the computer to restart the installation process on its own without pressing any keys.
Step 6 : Press the "Shift" key and the "F10" key together when you see "Installing Devices" at the bottom of the screen.
Step 7 : Wait for the command prompt to open and then type "nusmgr.cpl" into the prompt. Press the "Enter" key to enter the "User Accounts" screen.
Step 8 : Click on the account that you want and change the password.
Method 2: Reset Windows XP Password with Ophcrack
Ophcrack is a Windows password  recovery cracker based on rainbow tables. It is a very efficient implementation of rainbow tables done by the inventors of the method. It has the following features:

• Runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS X (intel).
• Cracks LM and NTLM hashes.
• Free tables available for alphanumeric LM hashes.
• Loads hashes from local SAM, remote SAM.
• Loads hashes from encrypted SAM recovered from a Windows partition, Vista included.

If failed, what would you do to reset Windows XP password? Well, it is a better way to ask help with a Windows password recovery shareware, like Windows Password Unlocker, which allows to reset Windows XP password with ease.

Crack Windows 7 Password with 2 Methods

Computers running operating systems such as Windows 7 are capable of having more than one user account. Each of these accounts can be a "guest" account or "administrative" account, with administrative accounts having unlimited access to the computer. Each account can be password-protected. If you forgot Windows 7 password and need to crack it in order to access the computer, the password can be retrieved.
Step 1: Type in what you think the password is and press the right-pointing arrow next to the password bar. If you entered the wrong password, you'll get a message saying the password is incorrect and a hint for the password will appear.
Step 2: Use the hint to try to remember the password. If you still can't remember, log into an administrative account on the computer that is not password protected, or have someone that knows the password for the administrative account log into that account.
Step 3: Click "Start/Control Panel" once the administrative account has been logged into, then select "User Accounts" and "Manage another account."
Step 4: Click on the account that you want to crack open and then select "Remove password" so that the password on that account is removed.
Step 5: Click "Start/Log Off" and then access the user account for which the password had been forgotten. Now you've cracked the password and gained access to that account.
If you still failed to reset Windows password with this method, it is better take a third party software, like Windows Password Unlocker, a powerful and great password recovery tool by a bootable CD/DVD/USB. There are 4 simple steps to crack Windows 7 password.
1. Download and install Windows Password Unlocker Professional
2. Burn a bootable CD/DVD or USB to remove lost Windows password.
3. Set your target computer to boot from CDROM or USB flash drive
4. Insert the burned CD/DVD or USB flash drive into the locked computer, and now you can successfully crack Windows 7 password.

How to Manage Your Windows Password on Vista?

It's on the list of things you should always do: be courteous to delivery people, wash your hands, and keep track of login passwords. And even I have broken the rule. Just a few days ago, I tried to log into a seldom-used Vista installation, only to have forgotten my password. Since I don't use that PC often, I wasn't concerned about losing applications and data. But after spending ten minutes guessing various combinations, I gave up and reinstalled, costing another hour. Here's how to take better care of these keys, especially if you have a many logins.

For simple duplication, you could record each login and password, then store that document in a safe or somewhere only you have access. An off-side duplicate, such as a bank deposit box can be an aditional backup. Encrypted password-storage applications, such as SplashID andeWallet work even better, because even if someone else gets access to your password file, they won't have a way to unlock it.

Finally, you can create a Windows Vista password reset disck that will store a special unlocking key, in case your memory--and access--are blocked later. Insert a thumb drive, and visit the User Accounts Control Panel. Pick Create a password reset disk as a Task, and follow the wizard's instructions to enter your current password. Lock the thumb drive in a safe. If you ever need to use it, click Reset Password at the Vista login screen to restore access.
However, we Windows users always forgot to create a password reset disk and no idea on how to reset Windows password on Vista.
Ways to reset Windows Vista password are following:
1. Download Ophcrack. This program can reset  Windows password on Vista  easily. If you don't have access to any accounts on the computer you want to crack, you may need to use Ophcrack's Live CD. Check the Resources section for an article on using this tool, which boots a complete Linux operating system that runs Ophcrack.
2. Download Windows Password Unlocker. It is taken as one of the best  Windows password recovery tool to reset Windows password on Windows 7/Vista/xp and others. What you need to do is preparing a bootable CD/DVD/USB flash drive and burn it with an ISO file. Then,  you can reset Windows Vista password successfully.

Check out Whether Your Password is Safe Enough

A good password can mean the difference between identity safety and identity theft. Unfortunately, too many otherwise intelligent people rely on ridiculously weak passwords, the kind that make hackers rub their hands with glee.

If you're not certain about the strength of your password(s), head to Microsoft's password checker. This free tool couldn't be simpler to use: Just type in your password and get an instant strength rating: Weak, Medium, Strong, or Best.

Don't worry: Microsoft isn't secretly collecting passwords for its own eeeeevil purposes. The page doesn't record what you type, it merely generates a response based on the nature of the input.
can get you a Strong or Best rating? Here's a clue: The dog's name won't cut it. Neither will "1234" or, heavens, "password." According to the password checker, you should aim for a minimum of 14 characters and include a mix of numbers, symbols, and both uppercase and lowercase letters.
Personally, I'm a fan of taking an easy-to-remember phrase (like, say, "PCWorldRules") and replacing various letters with similar-looking numbers. Thus, my password would be "PCW0r1dRu135." According to the checker, that's a good, Strong password.
Of course, it is easy to forgot Windows password with a fast-paced life for Windows users. When you encounter the trouble of Windows password forgotten, how would you try to hack it? Is there any good advice to  reset Windows password?
Here I would like to introduce you a wonderful and efficient way to reset Windows password as soon as possible without any data or file loss with Windows Password Unlocker. It is a well-recognized password recovery tool to reset password on all popular Windows os, like Windows 7/XP/Vista/2000 and Windows Server 2003/2008. Meanwhile, as I know,  this software will also support Windows 8, the new OS which will release in 2012.