This page contains general information about computer passwords at Algonquin . Every system uses authentication to ensure that only known clients are granted access. Managing your accounts and authentication requires care and attention on your part. See Algonquin Directive 25

Password Rules:

Any time a user changes their network password, it has to meet password complexity requirements. Complexity requirements are enforced when passwords are changed or created. These rules are:

• Must not contain the user's account name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters ( ie for the name Donna, you can use "do", but not "don")
• Must be at least eight characters in length
• Must contain characters from three of the following four categories:
         - English uppercase characters (A through Z)
         - English lowercase characters (a through z)
         - Base 10 digits (0 through 9)
         - Non-alphabetic characters (for example, !, $, #, %)
• The policy enforces six remembered passwords and 8 characters length minimum.
• You should assume that systems are case sensitive because many are.
• Format
  Students username format - first four letters of last name + four digits (ie smit9999)
  student password format- generally yA123456

  staff username format - first six letters of last name +first letter first name+digit (ie clayd or smitj13)
  staff password format - various letters and numbers

A great way to remember!

A simple strategy for finding a password that is easy for you to remember, but difficult for others to guess is as follows:

1)      Think of a sentence that is meaningful to you.  Sentences are easier to remember than series of letters.  For example “My first car was a gray Toyota-Celica”.

2)      Convert this to letters, and use the number, and use capitals “M1cwagT-C”.  This would be easy for you to remember, but very difficult for someone to guess, even if they knew your first car was a Toyota Celica.