This is a question from one of our ( presumably bored ) users:
“Does anyone know if it is possible to change the icons that are displayed when a user enters their password into the client prompt ?”
Before I tell the user to get some work done and stop wasting my time, is this actually possible ??
TIA
Doug.
Subject: Client Password Prompt Box Images
I would say that it could be, but how much money do they want to spend to do it? But that answer, to some users, means ‘yes.’ Your answer to this person is ‘no.’
Glad it is you, and not me. 
Gregg
Subject: RE: Client Password Prompt Box Images
If the user means “I’d rather seen cartoon characters than key fobs” then the answer is No.
If the user means “I’d rather see the bottle opener key fob than the Notes key fob” the answer is still likely No – but by changing their password they will get a different icon combination.
The graphics are a security feature and a user convenience. A convenience because the user should see the same thing whenever their password is correct. A security feature because among other things, if they see a different graphic (or no graphics at all, or …) then perhaps the password dialog is an attempt at phishing their password.
The ability to change the icons could then be considered a security risk!
Subject: RE: Client Password Prompt Box Images
To add detail, the way in which the graphics are an anti-spoofing measure is that starting with the fifth character of your password, the graphic which shows up is obtained by hashing (encrypting) all of the characters entered up to that point. (Together, the encryption algorithm and the fact that each icon is calculated based on ALL characters entered up until that point, and not on the single most-recently-entered character – as well as the relatively limited number of icons – make it exceedingly difficult to decode one’s password by noting the sequence of icons from over one’s shoulder.) The point of all this, then, is that IF the user memorizes not just their password, but also (¡) the exact sequence of icons which it generates (!), then IF they note each icon AS THEY ENTER EACH CHARACTER, then as soon as the wrong icon shows up, the user will realize, mid-password, that some evil entity has installed software on the PC which generates a clever spoof of the Notes password prompt to capture the entered keystrokes, and they can stop entering the password before they finish it, thus thwarting the capture attempt.
As one pauses to imagine the user community both capable of and likely to practice this level of self-oversight, it helps to realize that the algorithm was, IIRC, developed by the FBI.