During the WordPress install process a single user account named admin is created. This account has full administrative access to your WordPress blog and should be protected. Keep the admin account safe by:
- Choosing a complex, hard to guess password. For example, wp&79LDef is a much stronger and harder to guess password than iloveblogging.
- Only use the admin account when you need to. For most day to day blogging tasks such as writing posts and managing comments you do not need a full administrative account.
- Only use the admin account when logging on from a trusted computer. Computers at internet cafes and other public places can contain Trojan horses or key logging software that records your keystrokes and lets a malicious person find out your password.
Changing Passwords in WordPress
To change your account password look in the top right of the Dashboard and click on the link that shows the current user name.
The user profile page is displayed. Scroll to the bottom and look for the New Password field. Enter your new password twice. WordPress will let you know whether it thinks your new password is weak or strong.
Once you are happy with the password you have chosen click on the Update Profile button. Your admin password has now been changed.
Creating a Blogging Account
Your day to day blogging tasks can be performed using a normal user account instead of the admin account. This reduces the risk of your blog being destroyed if someone finds out your password. A normal user account can do far less damage to your blog than the admin account can.
To create a new account on your WordPress blog click on Users in the sidebar on the left-hand side of the Dashboard, and then click on Add New.
The Add New User form is displayed. Fill in the form with the details for your new user account. The minimum details required are the username, email address and password. Remember that the username and password are case-sensitive.
Set the user Role to Editor, which is the minimum level of access needed to write and publish posts on a WordPress blog.
When you are happy with the details you have entered click on the Add User button to create the account. Now you can log out from your Admin account, log in with your new Editor account, and start blogging.
Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/weddingwithedouard/
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