What's a Userid and a Password???
A computer system uses userids and passwords together to grant access to the
system. You need the correct combination of userid and password, to access your
account.
So what's a userid?
The userid identifies you to the computer. Userids are typically some form of
your name. (Your last name, for example). A userid must be unique throughout
the computer system. This allows the computer to distinguish between you and
some other person.
One confusing issue is that different systems refer to a userid (the thing that
identifies you to the computer) with different names. Some that you may run
across are:
But, they all refer to that special name that identifies you to that particular
computer system.
Your userid is also used for communication with other people through electronic
mail. Since the userid identifies you to the computer, it is natural for it to
be used to identify you to other computer systems.
For example: The person Joe B. User could have this userid, "jbu3470". The
userid is made up of the person's initials and the digits of some personal
identification number.
So what's a password?
To prevent other people from using your account via your userid, you are
required to have a password. A password allows you and only you to access the
computer system through your userid. It basically proves to the computer system
that you are who you say you are. So it should be obvious that you DO NOT
GIVE YOUR PASSWORD TO ANYONE!!!
