Strong Password

Passwords are the keys that are used to access personal information that stored the computer and in online accounts. If criminals or other malicious users steal this information, they can use your name to open new credit card accounts, apply for a mortgage, or pose as you in online transactions. In many cases you would not notice these attacks until it was too late. Fortunately, it is not hard to create strong passwords and keep them well protected. Password strength is a measurement of the effectiveness of a password as an authentication credential. Specifically, it estimates how many trials an attacker who does not have direct access to the password would need, on average, to correctly guess it. The strength of a password is a function of length, complexity, and randomness.

A strong password should appear to be a random string of characters and should be lengthly since every single character that is added increases protection. A combination of letters, symbols, and numbers is a good combination due to the fact that it has a greater variety as result making it harder to guess. An ideal password combines both length and different types of symbols. Morevoer, usage of the entire keyboard makes the password complex and harder for others to access.

An example of a strong password is J*p2leO4>F.

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/yourself/password/create.mspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Password_strength#Human_generated_passwords