Change my Password

Yahoo Password Recovery

If you no longer have access to your Yahoo account and need to retrieve or change your password to prevent hackings or simply just get back into your account, then you will have to go through password recovery options.  You will have to follow a few steps to get back into your account through the password recover service that Yahoo provides for their email and other services.

Process Recover Yahoo Passwords

You will first need to navigate to a login page within yahoo, or click the link that you forgot your password on Yahoo Instant Messenger or similar services.   Once you gain access to the login page, you will need to click on “I can’t access my account” link usually located within the login dialog box.  If you do not see this link, then there may be another titled “Yahoo sign in problems” that will navigate you to the appropriate section.  You will then be asked to enter your account details such as Yahoo ID or Email address associated with your Yahoo ID to send a confirmation email to start the password recovery function.  If you no longer have access to the email account associated with your Yahoo ID, Yahoo will not be able to provide assistance in recovery of your password.  You can attempt to access password recovery options through the Password Helper Wizard.

Other Login Dialogs To Be Aware Of

The Password Helper Wizard can be accessed through many login dialogs throughout Yahoo services.  The link will be titled “Forgot ID or Password”.  Once you click this link, it will take you to a password helper wizard which prompts you to choose from four options: “I forgot my password”, “My password doesn’t work”, “I forgot my Yahoo! ID”, and “My account may have been compromised”.

After you make your selection for password recovery, click next and you will be directed to a screen requesting your yahoo ID or secondary email.  Enter your information then type in the captcha code in the appropriate box to gain access to your password recovery option.  Captcha codes are designed to thwart off automated responses from computer programs designed to try and access accounts with randomly generated passwords.  It will prompt you to then choose a secondary email address to send the password reset link to.  If you cannot access the secondary emails, then you will need to select that you cannot access the options available.

If you choose that you do not have access to your secondary email and click next, you will be taken to your security questions where you can enter your private answers to gain access to the password reset option.  Here you will be able to input a new password and verify the password to regain access to your account.  They provide a password strength meter and tips to create a strong secure password to assist you in keeping your Yahoo account safe from unauthorized access.  Once you select next, your new password should be set and you may be prompted to input a secondary email address that you do have access to in order to help speed up password recovery options in the future.

Reset Your Dell Bios Password

When your Dell computer has protection to the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and you need access to add hardware or change settings you will need to follow special steps to get into the BIOS.  If you do not have the original password, you may need to contact Dell to receive the master BIOS password to your machine.  Otherwise, there are certain steps you can take towards resetting the password on your own.

Resetting BIOS Password in Dell PCs

Most Dell PCs such as the Dimension or Optiplex models can have the BIOS password reset through some simple hardware changes.  To attempt this on these and similar models you will need to know how to locate and remove the Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (CMOS) Password Reset Jumper (3 Pins).  If you need assistance to find this jumper on your motherboard, you will need to consult the documentation of your machine or attempt to locate it yourself (Only if you know what you are doing or you risk damaging your motherboard).  Once located you must remove the jumper plug from pins 1 and 2, transferring over to pins 2 and 3 to set to set the reset process.  After 5 seconds, you will need to remove the plug from pins 2 and 3 and transfer back onto pins 1 and 2 to continue with the reset function.  This will clear all of the CMOS settings to be reconfigured on the next startup.  You can then set a new BIOS password and configure your devices and other motherboard settings.

Resetting BIOS Passwords for Other Dell computers

Some models such as laptops and newer PCs will require a master password to reset the BIOS password to your own selected password.  To obtain the master password you will need to contact Dell Technical support and provide the service tag and express service code information to verify ownership.  In the event that you were not the original owner of the computer, you will have to complete and submit a transfer of ownership form on the dell website.  You will need to provide the same information from the computer in the form to be able to transfer ownership to the new owner of the computer.

Alternate Method to Reset Dell BIOS Passwords

If the previous methods are not available for you to reset the BIOS, then one last resort is flashing the current bios to an upgrade or reinstalling the BIOS for your specific machine.  If you can find the resources to flash the bios, you will be able to run an executable BIOS flashing software to reinstall the BIOS software onto the BIOS chip to completely reset it.  This process should only be done by professionals or you may risk damaging chips and other hardware in your system.  You can find detailed instructions on how to flash your bios located where you find your specific Dell Bios upgrade or current version.  Once completed, you will be able to reset the BIOS password and configure your system.

Important Information to Look Over Before You Reset BIOS Passwords

Using any process that resets your BIOS can strip the CMOS of all configurations.  Get into your CMOS control panel before you attempt a reset to record your configuration.  If you cannot access the control panel because of the BIOS restrictions, then you will need to know how to configure your system after resetting the settings.  If you do not know how to successfully configure the devices, your computer may not load properly or certain features may be disabled.  Always consult user manuals or find a similar machine that you can study configure options to try and configure you other machine with these same settings.

How to Set Your Linksys Router Password

Linksys routers are very high quality and make networking easy for most average users.  Without setting a password, these networks are left open for anyone to snoop into without any real restrictions.  Setting up your Linksys router to have wireless encryption and password protection is important to safeguard your personal data from anyone who is within the transmitting range of your wireless router access point.  The process is not too complicated and most average computer users can do it without damaging their network configuration.

Linksys Router Password Setting Process

The first thing you need to do is navigate your internet browser of choice to the configuration IP address of “1892.168.1.1″ in the address bar without the quotation marks.  This is the configuration panel for all wireless Linksys routers and will prompt you for a password.  On older Linksys models, you will have to only enter “admin” into the password field while leaving the username field empty.  In the newer models you will have to put “admin” into both fields to access the main configuration panel options.  From here you will be able to set the administrative passwords as well as change configuration settings to secure your wireless connection.

Setting Wireless Connection Password

When you set the WAP or WEP encryption settings, you can submit a password or code to allow access to your wireless network by wireless enabled devices.  Once configured, this will restrict access of the wireless connection to devices that are properly configured to the wireless network and have the access password will be able to connect and use the network resources.  This is useful for protecting personal files and other important data that you do not want getting into the hands of people with mal intent.  This also restricts access to your internet connection and can be useful when you have set bandwidth limits and do not want to risk going over your allocated internet credits by having strangers use your internet connection.

Resetting If You Incorrectly Configure Your Network Configuration

When you make a mistake and you are unable to access the control panel of your Linksys router, cannot access your network, or you forgot the password to the router you can easily reset the device to factory settings.  The process takes only a few steps and you could reconfigure the router using the same steps mentioned in the above password setting process.  First you will need to find the reset button on the back of the Linksys router and press it for 10 seconds to send the reset signal.  This brings the router back to factory settings and allows you to set a new password and reconfigure any settings that may have made your network inaccessible.  If the reset method does not work, you can simply unplug the router from the power source and wait 10 seconds to do the same as pressing the reset button.  This cuts the power and allows the router to load up with the reset function.

How to Reset Hotmail Password for Recovery

Hotmail is one of the most popular free email providers available from MSN today.  Forgetting your password makes it difficult to get access to your email and other account options.  Luckily, there is a simple way to reset your password through the on-site password reset tool through the login interface.  The process to reset the password can be done by the account holder or someone that knows the personal information to the person’s account.  This makes recovery of your account possible if you can provide the appropriate information.

Process to Reset Password

The first thing you will need to do is navigate your browser to hotmail.com and find the login dialog.  You will need to select the “forgot your password” option.  It will then prompt for the email address attached to the windows live id account which will have the password reset through the process.  Once you hit the button to continue, it will give you a visual and audio based captcha code to ensure that you are an actual person requesting a password recovery option.

Genuine Human Test

There will then be a captcha character test that you must reproduce by typing correctly into a field that confirms and identifies that you are a real person.  The box containing the characters will be assisted by an option represented by a speaker that plays the characters through a sound that you can hear through the speakers.  This is useful for people with limited vision or those who cannot read specific characters because they are too distorted in the image.

Verifying Account by Using Security Question

Once all of the appropriate information is entered into the password request form, the account will need to be verified by using the security question you provided an answer for.  Once successfully completed, you will be able to reset your password with a new one.  This is done by entering the password in the first box and confirming in the next.  You should be able to log in with your new password now!  If there is an error, then the account may have encountered some problems and you may have to contact customer support services for Hotmail to resolve the issue.

Problems with Resetting Passwords and Successful Password Recovery

There is a chance that you cannot reset your password due to the fact that hotmail and other Microsoft services now require you to login at least once every thirty days or else accounts are removed.  If you let the account age too long, you will face losing the username and get error responses claiming the account does not exist when submitting forms towards resetting the password.  This happens to many accounts and the process is irreversible.  Any emails and personal contacts will be lost and become irretrievable from hotmail services.  This is why it is important not to forget the password to the account and make sure to keep the account active if you wish to keep it for longer than one month.

How to Change Your Hotmail Password

Hotmail email services provided by Windows Live have been a very reliable email service for many years. To ensure that your privacy and other personal emails remain safe from unauthorized eyes, you will need to perform regular password changes and upgrades to difficult to guess phrases or arrangements of letters. This helps to keep intruders out of your personal email box and allows you to enjoy your private emails with the highest levels of security on your part. Changing your Hotmail password does not take very many steps and can be done by anyone who has an active account.

Process Of Changing Hotmail Password

You will need to log into windows live using your current email and password. Then you will need to find the options tab of your live account to select the more options choice. You will then select the “View and edit personal information” link under the “Manage Your Account” header. There will then be a password reset information section which harbors a link titled “change” right next to “password:******”. Click the change link to navigate to the password changing page of windows live. You will be prompted to enter your most recent/current password and type in a new password. They provide a password strength meter to help you determine whether a password is very secure. Once you verify the password in the next password re-entry box you will have the choice to select the option for password expiration every 72 days. This option is simply to allow you to be reminded to change your password at an interval of 72 days by requiring you to change your password for increased security.

Adding Security Questions

If you have not yet added security questions to your account, you may be prompted by the service to do so now. You should select options that are personal and other people will not know, yet is easy to remember so that you may gain access to your account if you forget your password in the future.

Completion of Password Change

If you have a secondary email address attached to your account, you may receive a message there prompting you to review the changes to your account. If you did not make any changes, then your account may have been accessed by someone other than yourself. You will have the option to cancel the changes to your Hotmail account or to confirm the changes to the account. Usually if a response is not given within an allotted time period, Hotmail may acknowledge the absence of a response as a positive change since there was no cancellation of changes. It is important to monitor secondary email addresses for changes pertaining to hotmail and windows live accounts.

How to Change Your Email Password

When you wish to exclude people from having access to anything, it is good to have a strong but easy to remember password to keep unwanted people out of your account. Depending on your email service provider, you may have to go through a different series of steps to actually change and confirm the changes made to an account password. If you are using your default ISP email services the process is usually really simple to complete and requires your account information or a confirmation of previous password.

Navigate to Password Change Dialog

The general process to change a password for an email account is to find the preferences section of the email provider. Once you locate these preferences settings you will find a change password box or option to change your current password. If it only asks for your current password and updated new password you can easily have your password changed once you verify that the password is spelled or entered correctly. Once the verification is completed, you should be able to use the new password on your next login.

Extra Steps for Password Changes

Some email providers need you to pass some extra security measures to be able to access the password changing options. This helps to ensure that you are who you claim to be and proves the identity for the system. This is why it is important that you choose security questions that only you yourself should know. Simply choosing the most common security questions such as mother’s maiden name can be easily found and could compromise your online privacy if someone has access to that information. Writing your own security questions are even better, as you can specifically ask something that only you as the owner would know. Once you complete the step you will be prompted for your current password, your new password and a verification of your new password.

Extra Verification Steps

Some email companies offer you to attach a secondary email with them when you sign up. This way they could send you verification emails when you change your password and make other important changes to your account. This is handy when someone guesses your password or tries to change the password through password recovery options. When you are sent the email, you must navigate to a link they provide to activate the changes. If the changes were unauthorized, you will have options to reverse what occurred or reset the information and provide an even better password. This is also helpful when you need the password but do not remember your security questions. You can request an email to reset your password in such an event and even set new security questions through the secondary email.

How To Change The AOL Password

Changing your password often helps to protect your AOL account from being used without your permission. This also keeps individuals with criminal intent from accessing important information to use towards performing illegal acts or using personal information to ruin your credit. The process to change your current AOL password is simple and can be done easily on a regular basis to help ensure that your account is inaccessible by intruders.

Process of Changing AOL Password through AOL Browser Toolbar

Locate and select the Settings menu item from the AOL toolbar to access the password management option. Once you select the Passwords option, locate and select the Change Password option to access the password changing control function. It will prompt for the current AOL password which you must provide to successfully change the password. You will then need to enter the new AOL password then confirm a second time to make sure that you did not input incorrect characters to prevent loss of access to your account in the next login. You then need to click on the Change Password option to complete the process. Your password should be successfully changed now and will be useable the next time you need to log into your account.

Resetting AOL Password

If you forgot your password to log into AOL you will need to reset it to be able to successfully log in. You will need to verify membership information, then you will be granted access towards resetting the password. There are two ways to reset the password through AOL software and through an External Browser.

Process for AOL Software

wYou will need to launch the AOL software to gain access to the password reset function for your account. On the sign in screen you will be prompted to enter your password. Select the account name that you use to sign into AOL and click the Forgot Password option. You will be prompted to type in characters located in an image called a captcha code. This captcha code will consist of random characters and numbers that you must reproduce in a correct sequence to go to the next step. Once completed, you will be taken to a security question of your choice which you have previously provided an answer to. When you provide the correct answer, you will be directed to the password reset function.
If you have not set an account security password, you will be sent an email with a link to set up your security question to a secondary email address for you to follow and then set a security question. This requires you to provide the first and last name of the account holder, and set an account security question for use with your account. Once it is set, you can continue towards resetting the password to a new password of your choice. Once completed, and you continue through the prompts, you may now sign in to your account using your new password.

Resetting Your Password through an External Browser

If you use an external browser to sign into your AOL accounts, you will need to direct your browser to screenname.aol.com. You will be greeted with the same login screen as the AOL software provides. The process is the same as in the AOL software and must be completed in the same manner. At the end of the process you will be sent a message to your alternate email address regarding the recent password reset and change. This helps to alert you of unauthorized changes so if you receive this message without going through the process of changing your password, you can disallow the confirmation of the password change and prevent unauthorized users from accessing your accounts.

Changing The Linksys Default Password

Linksys routers have the ability to use password function to protect the connection through wireless connections. This makes it possible to restrict internet access to unauthorized users. Sometimes the password may get lost or corrupted and may even just be preconfigured if you get the router from a secondhand source such as a yard sale or hand me down from an upgrade. If so, then a password reset may be required to be able to re-secure and have access to your wireless network. The process is simple and requires little actual work towards resetting.

Resetting the Router Password Process

The Linksys wireless router models have the password reset function built into the router directly available for anyone wishing to reconfigure the unit. The only thing that needs to be done to reset the password on the router is to hold the reset button for 10 seconds or so. This sends the function to reset the password settings on the hardware to factory settings to be reconfigured by the user. If you do not need password protection for your wireless connection, then you could stop at this step and use the router without special protection, encryption and minimal firewall features enabled. If you wish to further secure and encrypt your connection, continue to the next steps.

Reconfiguring Your Linksys Router

To set a password and change other settings on your Linksys router, you will need to navigate your browser window to the IP address “192.168.1.1″ to get to the configuration screens. Simply type in or copy the IP address into your browser window without the quotes to access the configuration page for your Linksys router. If you are prompted for a password on older wireless router models, the password will be set to “admin” by factory reset with a blank username. In newer models, “admin” needs to be in both fields to access the configuration page. Under the management tab, various options will be available to you for making changes to administrator passwords and enabling WAP or WEP encryption to protect your networks from unauthorized access by individuals within your transmitting range.

Importance of Protecting Your Wireless Network

It is important to protect your wireless network from unauthorized access as certain settings of routers and computers connected both wirelessly and through physical cables. Computers that have inadequate security enables can be compromised and important or personal files and other information may be made available to strangers and individuals that can use your information to ruin your credit or cause other collateral damage to assets and even cause exploitation and invasion of privacy. Configuring your wireless Linksys router to have encrypted and restricted access is an important priority and the least you can do to help protect your computer from other attacks as well. Hacking is a serious issue and can happen to anyone that is unprepared or ill protected by limited security measures.

Changing Passwords for Personal Devices and Accounts

If you have any devices or accounts that are protected by passwords, you know that you have personal information that needs to be protected. Even if it is simply for email, or as important to your privacy as securing wireless network access points from intruders, passwords provide important first line of security measures to ensure that you and your information stay safe. Devices are often safeguarded by passwords as well to prevent changes to hardware and compromising systems. Changing a password ensures that your old password does not have a chance to be guessed and provides fresh protection from hackers and unauthorized individuals.

The Importance of Changing Your Passwords

Passwords are strings of characters, usually alphanumeric and special characters, used to allow certain individuals (users, administrators, login handles) access to restricted levels of the password protected medium. Only if the individual knows the proper password and login handle can they be granted unrestricted access to the level of access allowed for such a user. Password protection can be applied to almost anything and is used in many more emerging technologies.

Generating a Strong Password

No matter what the application or mode of usage for your passwords, such as hardware/software security or default account passwords, you will want to ensure that the passwords are tough to crack against any type of intruder. There are many measures you can take towards creating a secure password for authentication which makes it much more difficult to gain access to restricted materials and network resources.
Usually, you will want your passwords to be easy to remember, but random enough that someone who simply guesses words or numbers such as birthdays and anniversaries cannot gain access easily. The best way to go about this is to include an even mixture of uppercase, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters such as dollar signs or other random characters that would be impossible to simply guess. It is also recommended that you use the maximum amount of characters allowed for the password to ensure that it is as difficult as possible to guess or systematically force access into through random password generating software and devices.
It is best to use passwords that are not found in dictionaries and to vary it more than attaching some special characters to it. The best passwords possible are random strings of characters and numbers that do not make any sense at all. These passwords may be too difficult to remember for most people but they are the best line of defense that any normal person could have at their disposal.
Frequency of Change and Reuse of Previous Passwords
It may be best to have a set schedule that you follow to change your passwords and generate unique and different passwords to allow better protection. Frequent changes are great, but reusing the same password within a 12 month period is not recommended. If you must reuse the same password, then make sure that at least 6 months have gone by since you used that password to ensure access to your accounts is least likely done by people who knew your password but have since then forgotten it.

Keeping Your Passwords Secret

If you have your password easily available to others, or not well hidden, you can compromise your private data and access to your important accounts. You either need to keep passwords to yourself in your own mind or create reminders of what the password is that will not completely give the password away to people who know your personal history or knowledge about your life. Password management software is available for most computer systems that can help you keep your passwords safe and easily accessible to you if you make especially strong passwords that are difficult to remember.

Resetting Passwords When Loss of Access Occurs

In the event that you forget your passwords or lose access to wherever you keep your passwords available through any situation you may need to reset or change your password before you regain access to your accounts. There are many systems that may or may not be available for use to you when you need to reset and enter a new password. The most common system will require you to answer security questions to reset your password or allow an email to be sent to your email address to reset the password. The most secure password systems do not allow this type of password change requests through the simple interface and may require more extensive methods such as getting a hold of support representatives and providing proof of identity before access to resetting a password is allowed.

Proper Contact of Support for Password Recovery

You will need to contact a support system by either email or phone to gain access to password recovery for some accounts and devices. Make sure that you get the official support contact details from user manuals or through the website of your account services before you send any information out. You do not want to disclose personal information with someone that is not part of the recovery process. You will need to also ask what the proper procedure is and provide account details to verify that you are the actual account holder/owner. Once you provide everything they need in terms of verification information, you will then be given options to restore access to accounts/devices. It may be in the form of instructions or master passwords generated to help you for the one instance. Depending on what kind of password recovery options you are given, you may simply be provided with a link to change password details for accounts associated with online services.
If there are no options available for account or device password recovery when you cannot change your password normally, then you may lose access to such devices and accounts permanently. It is important to always set up secondary password access for any service that allows it. This prevents the permanent loss of account services and provides you with increased security options.