Creating a Picture Password in Windows 8.1

Passwords are an important part of your computer’s security. It helps protect your files and some other stuff that are saved in your computer’s hard drive from being accessed by any unauthorized users. Passwords have been protecting accounts in Windows and all the other operating system platforms for a long time and this security feature is also found even in other aspects of the digital world such as banking accounts and many others.

If you’ve been using Windows for a long time now then you should be aware that passwords are a combination of alphanumeric symbols and characters that you assign to your computer but in the brand new Windows 8.1 operating system, everything has seen a face lift and you can now create a new type of security feature called a “Picture Password”. You might have already heard or read about this but you don’t have a clue yet in how to create one so we’ll help you master the steps in making your own picture password in this tutorial.

Accessing the Accounts Section of PC Settings

The first step that you need to go through is accessing the section where you can find the options for creating different types of passwords for your Windows 8.1 machine. There are many ways in doing this but I will only show three of the easiest methods here to save you the reading. To start, you will need to click on the Windows+I keys on your computer’s keyboard and after you do so, you should be able to see the Settings screen at the right edge.

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From the Settings screen, just click on the tab that you will find at the bottom portion which is labeled “Change PC settings” and after doing so, you’ll be taken to the “PC settings” metro screen which contains some links at its left portion leading you to the different sections where you can make some tweaks. From these links, just click on the one that says “Accounts” and you will finally arrive at the screen which will serve as our starting point but before we even go into further details, we’ll be learning two other ways in accessing this same section.

Using Search in Accessing the Accounts Section

You have already learned the longer way so we’ll teach you another one that is relatively shorter than the first one and this method will take advantage of the search feature that is perfectly integrated with every Windows 8.1 machine. To do this, all that you need to do is press the Windows+S keys and after doing so, you should be able to see the Search screen that will slide in from the right edge.

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Now, when the Search screen appears, just type the word “Accounts” into the search input box that is located on top of the screen and after doing so, the search results will appear just below the box. From these results, just click on the one that says “Add, delete, and manage other user accounts”.

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After clicking the shortcut from the search results, you will be taken directly to the contents of the “Accounts” section of the PC settings and from here, you’ll be able to access the link which we will be doing much work on but before that, let’s learn one more way in accessing the “Accounts” section which will now involve another brand new feature that was introduced in Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 called the “Charms” bar.

Accessing the Accounts Section from the Charms Bar

Lastly, another way in accessing the “Accounts” section of the PC settings metro screen starts with the Charms bar. To do this, just press the Windows+C keys and after doing so, you should be able to see the Charms bar that will appear from the right edge of the screen. From this bar, just click on the icon that is at the bottom labeled “Settings”.

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After doing so, you will arrive on the Settings screen and again, just click the “Change PC settings” tab just like what you did earlier so you can access the PC settings metro screen where you can simply click on the “Accounts” link which is the starting point that we need to reach to start the Picture Password creation process.

Creating Your Own Picture Password

A picture password allows you to do some strokes and gestures on certain parts of a photo that you have selected so you can unlock the screen. This method of locking your computer is definitely more secure than the alphanumeric password that we all are very familiar with but before starting to create one, be sure to save the photo that you want to use in an easy to find location within your machine’s hard drive. You can save it in the “Documents” or the “Pictures” library if you want so we can have easier access to it.

To start creating your custom made picture password, just click on the “Sing-in options” link from the left side of the “Accounts” metro screen. When the contents of this link appears, you will see an option that says “Picture password” and below it is a button that says “Add” which you will need to click or tap so the Picture Password creation process would initiate.

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After clicking on the “Add” button, you will be taken to a screen which asks you to verify your identity. From this section, just enter your account password into box that is provided and hit the “OK” button at the bottom.

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Choose a Picture to Use

Now that you’re on the Picture Password section and after you verified your identity by typing in your password and hitting the “OK” button, you will need to browse towards the location of the photo that you want to use simply by clicking on the “Choose picture” button from the left hand portion of the Picture password section.

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After the picture that you want to use gets selected, you will be taken to a window where you can drag the picture to emphasize the part where you want to draw the gestures for your password. After doing this, just click on the button that says “Use this picture”.

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Now, on the screen that follows, you will need to draw shapes and do other gestures to create your password. You can do a combination of three gestures, taps and shapes on certain parts of your picture in any order and remember the portion where you did it because the system will tell you to re-enter these “gesture-tap-shape” password to confirm the password.

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Just follow the steps that comes after you do the taps, gestures and draw the shape that composes your picture password and you should be able to arrive at the very last step without any problems and have you new picture password set up. You can enter your picture password by using a mouse or your finger if in case you have a computer that has a touch enabled screen and if you use the latter, you will need to wipe any markings on the screen that can give a hint of the gestures that you did and make it a habit to make sure that your computer doesn’t get cracked in by anyone else.