In an effort to help keep our network security policies in line with industry best practices, we have increased the minimum Windows/network password length to 8 characters. (It had previously been set to a minimum of 7) Also, the password will have to 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, !, $, #, %)
**Note: It cannot contain the user's account name or parts of the user's full name that exceed two consecutive characters
This policy is in place now, but you do not have to make a change until the next time you are prompted to change your password. The system should prompt you for a new password and then tell you if it is not long enough or complex enough.