Why Use Strong Passwords?

Think of a password as a lock and a strong password as a strong lock. You hopefully have locks on the doors to your home. In order to enter, you (or those not so welcome visitors) have to use a key. Most people accept the inconvenience of having to unlock the door to their home in return for the security it provides. Since your computer may hold information that’s as valuable as most things in your home, why would you NOT use a password for your computer(s)? Well, probably because you don’t like the inconvenience -get over it – or you don’t know how to implement a password policy for your computer – you’ll learn here. How to implement a password for your computer: Windows XP: First lets examine the account types and what they can do:

There are two types of user accounts available on your computer: computer administrator and limited. The guest account is available for users with no assigned account on the computer. 

Computer administrator account

The computer administrator account is intended for someone who can make systemwide changes to the computer, install programs, and access all files on the computer. Only a user with computer administrator account has full access to other user accounts on the computer. This user: 

  • Can create and delete user accounts on the computer.
  • Can create account passwords for other user accounts on the computer.
  • Can change other people’s account names, pictures, passwords, and account types.
  • Cannot change his or her own account type to a limited account type unless there is at least one other user with a computer administrator account type on the computer. This ensures that there is always at least one user with a computer administrator account on the computer.

Limited account

The limited account is intended for someone who should be prohibited from changing most computer settings and deleting important files. A user with a limited account: 

  • Cannot install software or hardware, but can access programs that have already been installed on the computer.
  • Can change his or her account picture and can also create, change, or delete his or her password.
  • Cannot change his or her account name or account type. A user with a computer administrator account must make these kinds of changes.

Note

  • Some programs might not work properly for users with limited accounts. If so, change the user’s account type to computer administrator, either temporarily or permanently.

Guest account

The guest account is intended for use by someone who has no user account on the computer. There is no password for the guest account, so the user can log on quickly to check e-mail or browse the Internet. A user logged on to the guest account: 

  • Cannot install software or hardware, but can access programs that have already been installed on the computer.
  • Cannot change the guest account type.
  • Can change the guest account picture.

Note

  • An account with the name “Administrator” is created during installation. This Administrator account, with computer administrator privileges, uses the administrator password you entered during setup.

Let’s create 2 accounts in addition to your current account: Start/Control Panel/User Accounts/Create a new account Give the account a name – this will be an administrator account but we do NOT want to tip that off by including any part of administrator in the name – for our example we’ll just call this account JD. Click Next Pick account type Administrator and click Create Account. Now, while viewing all the user accounts, double click on this new administrator account (JD in our example). Click on Create Password Create a strong password (see Suggestions… at the bottom of this page), confirm and enter a hint to help you recall Now let’s rename the default administrator account: Instead of creating a new administrator account, select the existing Administrator account and select Change the name. Once the Administrator name is changed we can create a fake administrator account by creating a new Limited type account and naming it Administrator. While this method of obscuring the real local administrator account is well known to hackers it will at least keep some of the mischievous kiddies occupied. You now know how to create or change an account and how to create or change an account’s password.

Suggestions for creating passwords:

A single word can easily be forgotten, especially if it’s a strong password (recommended) containing NO dictionary words. Here’s a suggestion for creating a strong yet easy to remember password: use a passphrase. For example: Starting with the phrase- Ask not what your country can do for you- we can simply extract the first letter of each word to arrive at Anwyccdfy. Now add your favorite number to this – for example: Anwyccdfy7 Passphrases tend to be easier to remember and can result in stronger passwords. Bonus Tip: visit my Tampa Computers blog for a great FREE utility for securely storing passwords.

Brian Alaway Consulting
Tampa Computer Repair Service and Support

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