Hotmail is banning passwords such as "password", "123456", "ilovecats", and "gogiants", in an attempt to make it harder for spammers to hijack users' e-mail accounts.
People who sign up for the Web e-mail service will be prevented from using a password typically used by millions of others, Microsoft said in a blog post on Thursday.
"This new feature will be rolling out soon, and will prevent you from choosing a very common password when you sign up for an account or when you change your password," wrote Dick Craddock, group program manager for Hotmail. "If you're already using a common password, you may, at some point in the future, be asked to change it to a stronger password."
Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-20080395-83/hotmail-puts-a-block-on-flimsy-passwords/#ixzz1SNRkVzbD
