Changing Policy Defaults or Creating New Policy

[Guest]

My question is in regards to the default Group Policy for complex passwords.
Is there anyway to create, or overide the default for this policy to use our
own version of complex passwords? The Microsoft default here is TOO
restrictive and will cause our users to begin writing down passwords. Our
password (new) password policy is 8 characters, at least 1 must be uppercase,
at least 1 must be lowercase and the use of special characters is permitted.

When trying to use the Group Policy Editor, it olny allows you to create a
newer version of the default, has anyone solved or has had this problem?

Below I had added what Microsoft has determinded to be the default:
Passwords must meet complexity requirements
This setting enables Windows Server 2003 to verify that new passwords meet
complexity requirements. The default password filter (Passfilt.dll) included
with Windows Server 2003 requires that a password:

Is not based on the user’s account name.
Contains at least six characters.
Contains characters from three of the following four categories:
Uppercase alphabet characters (A–Z)
Lowercase alphabet characters (a–z)
Arabic numerals (0–9)
Nonalphanumeric characters (for example, !$#,%)

 

[Glenn L]

There are no out-of-the-box ways to customize the password filter that I am
aware of.
You need to research third party password filters.