Patent ID: 7200761

Claim:
A method of enabling use of a secure password, comprising: during power up initialization before an operating system is started, copying security data from an unsecure memory device in a computer to a restricted portion of the computer's system memory which is invisible to the operating system, wherein the restricted portion of the computer's system memory contains code and data needed for low level system control functions that are independent of the operating system, and wherein a writing a data into the restricted portion of the computer's system memory is authorized only for a trusted software entity that has been authenticated as having permission to access the restricted portion of the computer's system memory, wherein the trusted software entity is a trusted routine that is part of a Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) Power-On Self Test (POST) program that is stored in the computer; and before starting the operating system, hard locking the memory device against direct access so that a reset signal is required to unlock the memory device.