This step-by-step article describes how to prevent users from changing their password except when they are required to do so. Centralized control of user passwords is a cornerstone of a well-crafted Windows 2000 Security scheme. You can use a Windows 2000 Group Policy to set minimum and maximum password ages. A minimum password age prevents users from changing passwords too frequently. Frequent password changes can be used by users to circumvent a password-history setting and lead to more calls to the help desk because of forgotten passwords.