What is the best protection against a brute force attack?

Related questions

1. Should I use sha256 or sha512?
2. What is the difference between a brute force attack and a dictionary attack?
3. Is sha512 faster than sha256?
4. How long would it take to crack a 12 character password?
5. What do you mean by hash?
6. What are strong password characteristics?
7. What is Rainbowcrack used for?
8. Is one way hash secure?
9. Can sha256 be decrypted?
10. How long does it take to break a 16 character password?

Tags

1. #obvious
2. #until
3. #manually
4. #locked
5. #defined
6. #lockouts
7. #could
8. #after
9. #block
10. #specific
11. #simply
12. #account
13. #accounts
14. #administrator
15. #duration
16. #force
17. #incorrect
18. #password
19. #brute
20. #attacks
21. #unlocked
22. #remain
23. #number
24. #attempts