-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 It is quite feasible to break in or rather reset an administrator password in any version of windows. There are sites and instructions all over explaining how to perform password recovery. If someone has physical access to the system it really isn't that difficult. However, it does require little bit of a process which often includes booting off of floppy and executing some password reset utility. So, if she did some reconfiguration like that then yes, it wouldn't be hard to do. The only real way that I could think to limit that would be to use biometrics and disable passwords for all accounts including administrator. Then it's the individuals fingerprint that does the authentication. I myself have purchased and used biometrics from www.precisebiometrics.com and it works quite well. It's also fairly affordable at less than $100 for a simple unit. I believe you would need to go to some place like www.cdw.com to order an individual unit, because they only sell them in large orders. Edward J. Metzler wrote: | I recently built a computer for a friend using Windows XP Pro. I made | very sure that I used a nine digit reasonably strong password - number, | special character, upper and lower case letters. I made him the | administrator and the only person with an account. I updated his | installation with all of the available XP updates from Microsoft. | | His daughter, who does not seem to have strong computer knowledge, | cracked in and made herself administrator and her login appears on the | front screen. My friend assures me that he has not related his password | to his daughter. He said that she had notes all over as she apparently | was trying to break in using various words that she thought her dad | might use. When I asked his daughter how she did it, she said something | about reconfiguring the startup....she couldn't remember what she did. | | Here are my questions: | 1. How is it possible to login to Windows XP without knowing the | password? | 2. What can I do about it? | | Any ideas out there? | | Edward J. Metzler | aCCredo Corp. -- Proactive Risk Management | 13267 SW Bull Mountain Road | Tigard, OR 97224 | Direct: 503-624-2124; Fax: 503-624-5723; Cell: 503-805-7758 | http://www.accredo.com emetzler@private | | This e-mail, including attachments, may include confidential and/or | proprietary information, and may be used only by the person or entity to | which it is addressed. If the reader of this e-mail is not the intended | recipient or his or her authorized agent, the reader is hereby notified | that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this e-mail is | prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the | sender by replying to this message and delete this e-mail immediately. | | | | | | - -- David M. Fetter (MegaSurge) - http://www.setec-astronomy.biz/ "The world is full of power and energy and a person can go far by just skimming off a tiny bit of it." Neal Stephenson - Snow Crash -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: PGP 6.5.8 Comment: Using PGP with Netscape - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iQA/AwUBPhPkxzyx3ReY+dz8EQIZiwCgxUDzrJoimebwENomRpelux/ZCC0Ani+S W1Cbtk/BFPwE+IjDghKF9FK8 =Op1q -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Thu Jan 02 2003 - 08:18:35 PST