Required Network/E-Mail Password Change to Be Initiated Tuesday

As part of the Microsoft conversion process, Information Technology Services assigned temporary network/e-mail passwords to all employees. Now that the conversion is over, it is important to return to a secure password protocol. Therefore, ITS will initiate a required password change on May 1. As of that date, employees will be prompted to change their passwords the first time they log in either to the college network or Outlook Web Access.

If you first log in to the college network, you will receive the following message:

Click OK. The Change Password screen will open, requiring you to enter your old password, enter a new password and then confirm the new password. Click OK when done.

If you first log in to Outlook Web Access, you will receive the following message:

Do not change the information that displays in the Account field (PCTYourUserName). Use the other three fields as labeled to set* and confirm your new password. Click OK when done.

The new password will apply to both network and e-mail access, regardless of where the change was made.

*Remember that passwords are case-sensitive.

Passwords must be at least six characters long, and must contain characters from at least three of the following four categories:

• English uppercase characters (A-Z)
• English lowercase characters (a-z)
• Base-10 digits (0 - 9)
• Non-alphabetic characters (!, $, #, or %)

Employees: This does NOT affect your AS400/EIS password. Change your AS400/EIS password at this time if you wish to keep it synchronized with your network/e-mail password. You can change that password by logging in to the Employee Information System and choosing the "Manage My EIS Account" option.

Note: If you intend to keep your network and AS400 passwords the same, keep in mind that AS400 passwords can include only letters and numbers, and cannot begin with a number.

To create highly secure passwords, also follow these tips:

• Create a memorable, but not easily guessed password
• Do not use words or dates that may be easily guessed or discovered
• For example, do not use your birth date, your child's birth date, Social Security number, house number, child's name, maiden name, etc.
• A safe password is one formed from the first letters of a unique sentence or from the line of a song. To make it even safer, append a number to the end or substitute a number for one of the letters.
• For the strongest password, use all of the tips above AND mix upper-and lower-case letters