Tip #330: Password Protect Your Device

Tip #330: Password Protect Your Device

The Password fuction built into your Windows Mobile device are a way to protect the information on your device from casual access should you lose or misplace it. (For industrial-strength protection, you'll have to look into encryption and stronger password protection.)

To enable passwords:

1. Turn on your device.
2. Tap on Start (in the upper left).
3. Tap on Settings (at the bottom of the resulting menu).
4. Tap on the Password icon.
5. Tap on check box to left of "Prompt if device unused for". In the drop-down box you can specify any time from 0 minutes, up to 24 hours. (Once this period expires, the password protection begins).
6. Tap on the Password Type drop-down box. You can select "Simple 4-digit" code (4 numbers; it's easy to type, but it's susceptible to brute-force solving).
7. Or, you can pick "Strong Alphanumeric" (harder to type and remember, but much more resistant to being cracked). The password must be at least 7 characters long (and as long as 20!), and must be a combination of numbers, letters (both upper and lower case), and punctuation. The program will prompt you to do better if you try to enter a Strong Alpha password of, say, "dddd", which lacks any uppercase letters, numbers or punctuation, and which is shorter than the seven-character minimum.
8. Once you've entered your password, hit OK. You'll be asked to confirm your changes to Password.
9. Now, in order to access your device (after the time delay you specified), you must type in the password. Don't forget it--short of guessing the password, you would have to Hard Reset your device in order to be able to use the device again. That means losing access to installed programs and data and having to resort to backups of your device.

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