Soon after you start Microsoft Money for the first time, you will be prompted to set up a Money sign-in name and password (see Figure 1-2). The password restricts access to your Money file and provides the security and privacy you need for a file that contains your detailed financial information, including investments, bills, budget, and taxes.


Figure 1-2. Sign in to Money

You can set a password that you use with Money alone. For added versatility, especially if you expect to go to the Internet for various banking and other Web financial services, you can make your Money sign-in the same as your Microsoft Passport.

There are a number of advantages to using a Passport as your Money sign-in:

• Money offers several convenient online services that youÆll need a Passport to use. If your Money sign-in is also your Passport, you only have to sign in once to use Money and these services.
• Your personal information is protected by powerful encryption technology and strict privacy policies. You always control which sites have access to your information, including your e-mail and mailing addresses. When you sign out, all your Passport-related personal information is deleted from the computer, which means itÆs safe to use on public or shared computers.
• If you browse the Web using the computer that contains your Money file, youÆll have access to your relevant Money data using MoneySide.
• Convenient and secure Background Banking keeps your Money accounts up to date.
• You can access your accounts and portfolio from any online computer.
• If you forget your Passport password, you might be able to reset your password and recover your file using a secret question that only you know the answer to.

If you choose not to use Passport, you can still protect your file with a password that you set. Record your password in a safe place. If you forget it, you will be unable to access the data in your Money file.

Remember your password! If you forget your password, and itÆs not a Passport, Microsoft Product Support has no way to help you retrieve your file information. Even with a Passport, if you donÆt answer your secret question and other security questions exactly right, you wonÆt be able to recover your file. YouÆll lose access to all the data in your Money file.

You will be prompted to set up your Money sign-in as part of the Money Setup Assistant, which is discussed in the next section. For information about creating or changing your password or Passport after you have set up your Money file, click Managing Your Money File in the left pane of this UserÆs Guide, and then click Use a Money password.