Ah yes, the default Administrator login. When you install Windows XP, it actually asks for an Administrator password (on XP Pro at least, not sure about XP Home offhand) but most people skip it. On a 9x machine you can just hit cancel - logging in is completely optional. (Of course, by default every user is in the Administrator group anyway, but that's a completely different issue)
But as to the topic, most people don't even HAVE passwords, from what I've worked with. In fact, I just had networked a couple of computers for an older couple, and I was asked to remove that annoying password prompt. Considering it was a 98 and no password was as good as having a password, I complied. Theie XP machine had auto-login enabled, which is "no password" again. This is pretty much standard.
Those that actually do have passwords, however, seriously believe that they're protected entirely. These are usually family machines that have a login for Mom, Dad, Random Kid #1 and Random Kid #2 (all Admins, again), where the kids usually have a password and the parents don't. Of course, any user can reset another's password in this situation, and see each other's files... and even if you make your files private, an admin can take ownership of the files and can see everything anyway.
But basically, "average" users fall into one these groups regarding passwords (I'm thinking about network passwords, but most of these apply to Windows passwords as well):
- My password is unbreakable and protects everything I do and anyone who says otherwise is a hacker
- My password goes to the same place on the network as everyone else's password so why does it matter if Sue forgot her password and I let her use mine, we do the same things anyway
- My password is just a formality and doesn't really matter, I am the only one on the computer anyway so I'll just put this sticky note on the monitor with my login and password
- Passwords are stupid because I forget them
- HAY GUYS MY PASSWORD IS MRSNUFFLES BECAUSE THAT IS MY DOG WHAT DO YOU MEAN EVERY STUDENT IN THE ROOM KNOWS IT NOW WHAT DOES THAT MATTER
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Also is there some way to add a password to the windows administrator account? A registry hack maybe? or even a way to remove the option to remove user's passwords?
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XP Admin password setting: You can do that though Start->Run->MMC and going to the File->Add/Remove Snap-in dialog... from there, hit "Add" and pick Local Users And Groups, do it for the local machine, and hit OK. Hit OK again to go back to MMC.
From here, you can edit your users (right-click to Set Password). You can also add users from here. I recommend making your most-used account a Power User instead of an Admin, and anytime you need Admin privledges you can log in as Administrator to do that. (Or do a Run As.. from the right-click menu, if it's a program)
If you have XP Pro, you can use gpedit.msc from the Run command and find the minimum password length option and set it to 6 or something, if you don't want to allow 0-length passwords. I'm the only one on this computer, so I don't worry about it (my passwords are >6 characters anyway). Off the top of my head, you can still do this in XP Home, but you have to do it directly through the registry.
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As an aside, if XP's Administrator account has a password, you can log in without going to Safe Mode, at least. If you use the welcome screen, hit Ctrl-Alt-Delete at that screen and you get a standard login screen. Of course, I hate the welcome screen so I just disable the thing.