To make the iPad's built-in security features even more powerful, you can use Apple's (now poorly named) . Designed to help enterprises manage iOS devices, it opens up a suite of additional security and business settings, even for individual users.

To start, click on Configuration Profile -> New, and select Passcode from the list that appears. In the subsequent Passcode pane, you have all kinds of options; the settings here override your iPad's. At the very least, you can specify a minimum length to the passcode.

To activate these password settings, you'll have to fill in some information on the General tab too--specifically, the name and identifier of the profile. If this is a device that only you will use, you can set the Security drop-down to Always. (That allows you to remove the profile whenever you want.) If you're configuring an iPad to be used by someone else, you can set it for Never or With Authorization (and then provide a password) so that someone else can't change the settings without your permission.

Installing the profile is easy: Click Share to e-mail it to your iPad. On the tablet, you then open Mail, find the message, click on its attachment, and select Install. You can also export the profile to a downloadable file and install with the iPad's copy of Safari.