Password protected Administrator account query

[CurlyWhirly]

I have seen a few online security articles mentioning that an Administrator account should be password protected.

I have now done this and every time I boot XP I see the password log on screen.

Before I set a password I used to end up at the 'Welcome' screen and then the windows desktop.

Does it make my PC any more secure having the password option enabled i.e. could malware (if it breached my defenses) or a hacker get past the password option i.e. does anyone know if the password is encrypted like our passwords are in the Neo Planet forum?

Would the password be visible to someone who knew where to look like a hacker for example?

Just curious! :rolleyes:

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

I am one who advocates having Administrator accounts password protected. By that I mean a "strong" password, not something like 'admin'.

The reason why I recommend Admin passwords is that my unprotected computer (unprotected by a firewall, and unprotected by an Admin password) had become infected from the outside (several years ago). McAfee detected the presence of the virus, but was unable to identify it or clean it.

The infection occurred shortly after getting a little home wireless network, and the whole thing was connected to a broadband ADSL line. I was able to remove the thing that McAfee pointed to, in Safe Mode, but as soon as I restarted in normal mode, it was instantly back again. I was unable to find any information on that particular virus on the Internet, so I didn't know the mechanism that allowed it to recreate itself.

I eventually got help from some forum in Germany, but it took quite a while until they figured out what it was. And it was quite a complicated manual process to remove everything. :blink:

The guys who helped me informed me that this particular malware spreads over the Internet, but is only able to install itself on systems with unprotected Admin accounts. I don't have any more details than that. But I'm sure some of our own security experts may have some additional comments.

Have I learned something from this? :wub: I think I have.

---

I don't know much about the inner workings of password encryption on Windows, but I am sure that passwords are encrypted, and pretty sure that they cannot easily be cracked.

[CurlyWhirly]

Thanks for that pwillener.

I will leave things as they are then as entering a password on boot up isn't much inconvenience and if it means that I am more secure it is well worth it.

So I assume then if I am already logged in as Administrator then a (potential) hacker would have to know my password in order to have the same 'rights' as me on my PC ?

I saw this thread and as it is as yet unknown how it gets on your PC I was just curious if having a password may make my PC a bit more secure ? :unsure:

[scuzzman]

So I assume then if I am already logged in as Administrator then a (potential) hacker would have to know my password in order to have the same 'rights' as me on my PC ?

Absolutely not! Any program executed by you (or executed while you're logged in period) is running with the same rights as you. This is the primary reason I advocate running under a limited account.

[Scarecrow Man]

You should NOT give your daily account administrative privilages. If you are the administrator, then you know the administrator password. You may need to logoff or run as for some programs, but you will be much more secure and chances of a system failure are a lot less.

This is exactly why Linux (in most distros) makes you make a User account with non-root privilages, so you cannot cause a system failure or make changes to the OS which can lead to damages.

[CurlyWhirly]

Thanks scuzzman and Scarecrow Man.

I have now set up a limited account and I will continue to use it from now on.

[scuzzman]

:thumbup: :clapping:

[CurlyWhirly]

Just one more thing :blush:

Every time I run my Guest account I get 2 applications playing up with an error message as shown in my screenshot.

The 1 other application that plays up isn't important as it is only my Gigabyte Easy Tune 4 motherboard monitor but it comes up with the same file in the error, namely, Temp\afac_appcompat.txt

I assume that appcompat is an abbreviation for 'application compatibilty' ?

If so I can't understand why these 2 applications don't work okay on my Guest account?

Having this problem is what puts me off the Guest account as now I don't have a-squared running while online.

I haven't uninstalled and reinstalled these 2 programs as I am not sure if my other account (the one with full Administrator privileges) would be affected as these programs are running perfectly on that account.

Any advice please?

Thanks. :flowers:

[CurlyWhirly]

Also when I attempt to switch users I have a menu with 'Switch User' and 'Log Off' displayed but when I click on 'Switch User' nothing happens :unsure:

I was assuming that I would be taken to the Administrator password box when attempting to switch users from my Guest account? :(

Is there something that I need to do to get this to work please?

[Scarecrow Man]

You can run most programs as another user. Right click and click "run as" and use your account with administrative privilages.

see here

You may need to change the properties of your start-up programs to run as an administrator.

[CurlyWhirly]

Thanks Scarecrow Man but that seems a bit complex to me as I am not very computer literate :blush:

I suppose I can manage with the a-squared problem as it's not that big a deal.

[scuzzman]

A lot of programs are created in a naive manner: they assume the user has no knowledge of security, and require to be run as Administrator. In these circumstances, the Run As... option is really the only viable one.

[CurlyWhirly]

In these circumstances, the Run As... option is really the only viable one.

Thanks scuzzman but I am not able to run the Run As... option correctly so I will search for some info from the Microsoft website itself.

[Scarecrow Man]

hold shift as you Right Click > Run As

[CurlyWhirly]

hold shift as you Right Click > Run As

That worked. Thanks :flowers:

[Scarecrow Man]

If you would like a program to always run as a different user:

Create a shortcut, Right click > properties. Click advanced and you will see the option "run with different credentials" check this option, and now whenever the shortcut is clicked, you will be asked which user to run as.

[CurlyWhirly]

Cheers Scarecrow Man.

I have done that with the 2 programs that wouldn't work properly on boot-up.

I have to set the credentials setting to Administrator for these 2 programs every time I boot-up otherwise they don't work but this minor inconvenience is a small price to pay for increased security.