Does windows have an image of security?

I am just wondering because today a girl in one of my classes brought in her Sony Viao Laptop and set it in a room and left. Before she did i asked her if i could see it she said yeah but i have a password so you wont get very far. (Side note you should not tell people that they will not get into your computer if they have anything to do with computers) Well i opened it up and turn it on and started guessing words that i though she might use as her password and after about 3 minutes of not getting anywhere i decided that I should take a different approach. So I turned off the computer and then turned it back on and as it was first booting I set it to start in safe mode. I purposely eliminated posting what buttons i hit becuase i dont know if it would be appropriate. Once safe mode loaded (this is one of windows major flaws) i chose to login as administrator ,which has no password enabled. Then i opened the control panel and selected user accounts and selected her account (another one of windows major flaws) which gave me the nice option of removing other user's passwords. So i removed her password and then restarted the computer and logged in on her account.

Well i saw her a few periods later and she was utterly suprised at how i had "hacked" into her laptop. I told he that it was very easy. Then she accused me of using some software program and i told her all i used was windows. So i had her put a password on and then while she was looking at the back of the laptop to make sure i had no cd to put in i once again removed her password. She was very upset and could not believe how quickly i had done it.

So basically i was just wondering if alot of people think that thier password on windows is a safe way to keep people out. I personally do not have a password becuase i know how futile it is to try and keep out someone who has any know how of computers. I instead just encrypt the files that i do not want people to view.

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?

Um yeah, you go in to user management, select the administrator account, and add a password. If you install XP yourself, it should ask for an admin password as one of the setup steps.

I've used that trick on a few occasions, but yes, I do feel my computer is secure from anyone who has the ability to turn it on. The only other people in my house are my parents and they are both newbs.

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?

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.

I have one on my XP login on my computer, but that's just to keep my parents and siblings out. I know it wouldn't do anything against someone who really wanted to get on, but my family wouldn't have any idea what to do.

Thanks BlueCube. I guess i was just unaware that people thought the Windows password was actually a good safegaurd. So it just shocked me that she was so suprised that i could login to her account quickly. And i had to start it in safe mode because the Admin account did not have a password so it did not show up but i guess i could have probably typed it in login screen. I personally do not have anything that i need to hide from anyone in my house so i do not have a password and i just use a freeware encryption program to lock any files i dont want people to "accidentally" open.

But if i were to put a password on anything i am pretty sure i would put it on the Bios because from what i have heard that is pretty secure minus someone draining the battery and then reflashing them on which would be a pain.