Sorry if this seems simple to you but I need to ask this and several other stupid questions.
I started learning MySQL which I downloaded with XAMPP and was having no problems. Then I read that my databases were vulnerable to attack because I hadn't changed my password. I'm pretty sure the original password was 'root' which is a well known password of course. I was only using the databases within 'localhost' but worried my data could be exposed to an outside party.
After I changed my MySQL password from a command prompt I could no longer access MySQL databases from within XAMPP's MyAdmin software, as I hadn't changed the password in that program. So eventually I figured out how to change the password from XAMPP's security page. HOWEVER, the XAMPP security page would not allow me to change the password to a new password of more than 15 characters.
The new password was more than 15 characters so that left me without that option. So (a couple weeks later) I tried changing the password again at the command prompt. I seem to have successfully changed it but when I go to XAMPP's security page and change the password to my new password I have no luck, every time the security page tells me "PASSWORD WAS SUCCESSFULLY CHANGED" yet when I stop and restart MySQL I still have no access to the admin page.
This is driving me crazy, has anyone got any suggestions? I'm new to PHP / MySQL and find it difficult to get good information as different sources use different versions of software or different settings and the result is I'm wasting too much time trying to get solutions to what probably are simple problems to someone more experienced.
Thanks in advance.