Using System Policies to Enforce Password Security

You can use system policies to increase security by forcing users to follow specific password guidelines. Using system policies, you can enforce the following password policies:

• Require Validation By Network For Windows Access, to specify that each logon be validated by a server before access to Windows is allowed. This applies to Windows NT and NetWare networks.
• Disable Automatic NetWare Login, to specify that when Windows 95 attempts to connect to a NetWare server, it does not automatically use the user's logon name and password or the password list file.
• Minimum Windows Logon Password Length, to control the minimum number of characters accepted for a Windows 95 logon password.
• Require Alphanumeric Windows Logon Password, to force a Windows 95 logon password to be a combination of numbers and letters.
• Hide Share Passwords With Asterisks, to cause asterisks to replace characters that users type when accessing a shared resource. This setting applies only to share-level security and is enabled by default.
• Disable Passwords Control Panel, to prevent access to the Passwords option in Control Panel.
• Hide Change Passwords Page, to hide this properties dialog box in the Passwords option in Control Panel.
• Disable Password Caching, to prevent saving of passwords for share-level resources, applications, and for NetWare passwords.
• Disable Caching Of Domain Password, to prevent the caching of the network password.

For information about restricting settings with system policies, see Chapter 15, "User Profiles and System Policies."