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The first time you sign on to your BlitzMail account, you should change your password to something private. Your Dartmouth Name Directory (DND) password is the key to your BlitzMail account and to other resources on the Dartmouth network. It’s a good idea to change your password periodically to ensure privacy.
Select BlitzMail from the Menu bar, then Edit DND Entry. Click the Change Password button. Enter your current password in the Current password field, then press the [Tab] key. Your password appears on the screen as bullets so that someone looking over your shoulder cannot see what you entered. Enter your new password, press the [Tab] key, then enter your new password again to verify you entered it correctly. Click OK or Change Now. Close the Edit DND Entry window.
Your new password should be something hard for others to guess, but easy for you to remember. Do not use your birth date, personal names, nicknames, initials, or words in the dictionary. Use only letters and numbers in your password (no symbols, etc.).
There are specific rules to which your password must conform in order to be accepted as a valid password. These rules will make it much more difficult for someone else to guess your password.
A mixture of numbers and upper- and lower-case letters is strongly recommended. The rules are:
- It can only include numbers, upper- and lower-case letters, or the following special characters: . - _ ( ) & + * " " ' @ ! % / \ ? : = ~ #
- It must be at least seven, but no more than eight characters in length;
- There can be no more than four characters in sequence (e.g., 12345 or abcde are not allowed);
- It must contain at least five different characters (e.g., 2a3a2a3a only contains three different characters, so it is not allowed);
- It cannot be a word found in the dictionary (e.g., password);
- It cannot be a reversal of a word found in the dictionary (e.g., drowssap);
- It cannot be a word found in the dictionary, plus one additional character either before or after the word (e.g., xalgebra or algebrax);
- It cannot be a word found in the dictionary with numbers substituted for look-alike letters (e.g., passw0rd or pa55word); and
- It cannot be a word found in the dictionary, minus any punctuation, symbols, or numbers (e.g., oclock or soninlaw).
One of the easiest way to create a secure password is to use a phrase instead of a word - this is known as a passphrase. To create a passphrase, select the first character of each word in the phrase and substitute numbers where logical. For example, while Henry5 is not a good password, the phrase Once more into the breach, dear friends, which when modified to 1mi2tbDF, is a strong one. The addition of the multiple characters makes this that much harder to break (please do not use this example as your own). Using a passphrase instead of a simple password can be both easy to remember and secure.
If you have questions, please contact the IT Service Desk (Help Desk) at 646-2999 and select from the options provided, send electronic mail to help@dartmouth.edu, or call your department's IT support office.
Learning to Use BlitzMail
Explore BlitzMail by reading, composing, and sending messages to your friends. Online help is available on Macintosh computers by selecting BlitzMail from the Menu bar, then BlitzMail Help. On Windows computers, click Help from the Menu bar, then Contents.
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