Ed Bott - Windows 10 Support Secrets

3 CHAPTER 1 | Getting started with Windows 10 Figure 1-2: The PIN option on this page offers a way to reduce the inconvenience of signing in with a strong password. Organizations can control PIN policy. It’s worth noting, by the way, that a Windows 10 PIN requires a minimum of four digits, but for extra security you can also set a PIN with more than four digits. Using Group Policy, an administrator can enforce complexity requirements for PINs, including mandatory use of letters and symbols in addition to numbers. These policies are available under Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Microsoft Passport for Work. Another sign-in option, Windows Hello, uses biometric identification such as a fingerprint or facial recognition. Setting up Windows Hello requires specialized hardware, such as the webcam with infrared features found on the Microsoft Surface Pro 4. If your users have Windows Hello–compatible hardware, setting up facial recognition is an especially impressive demonstration. Take charge of Start Over the past few years, the poor Start button has had its own identity crisis. In Windows 8, it disappeared completely, along with the Windows 7 Start menu. Windows 8.1 brought the Start button back, but only as a way to switch between the Windows 8 Start page and the traditional desktop. In Windows 10, the Start button is back in its familiar location on the left side of the taskbar. Clicking or tapping that button opens a menu of sorts, although Microsoft prefers to call this the Start experience.