Password Question

[boomer32]

I have a password to get into windows xp pro. If I were to loose my computer can someone still access my hard drive and pull up my desktop and my files..? If so how? Thanks in advance

Boomer

 

[jim532]

sure can, If all you have is a windows password then all one has to do is log on as administrator and you can get tools to change the admin password at

http://www.petri.co.il/forgot_administrator_password.htm

Some Bios have a password that you can enable to prompt for password before the PC boots up. Thats another easy one to get around. There are ways to stop undesireable people from see the files on your PC, but I am not too familiar, but just a regular old username and password wouldn't stop a 3rd grader.

 

[CondorMan]

How about encrypting your important data?

 

[vacunita]

Even with a Bios password,people can view your files
If someone really wanted to see your data, they could very well take the hard drive out of the PC, and connect it to another one, and view the files directly.

Encrypting is a good way from keeping unauthorized eyes from looking at sensitive material.





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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[boomer32]

Okay thanks for your help....how do i encrypt the files...or hard drive...???



Thanks again
Boomer

 

[linney]

Encryption is a double edged sword, these threads are sprinkled with people who have ended up losing valuable data to Encryption.

Have a read of these.

http://www.surasoft.com/tut/xpefs.htm

Best practices for the Encrypting File System

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;223316&FR=1#kb1

EFS Data Recovery Agent - How do I do this?
thread779-974529

An encrypted file or folder is decrypted if YOU copy it to a volume that is not an NTFS file system volume (ie. CD or Floppy disks).

How to De-crypt Encrypted files on a Stand Alone machine
thread779-390584

 

[CondorMan]

I agree linney. It's a matter of weighing up the pros and cons. If the data is sufficiently important, a non-encrypted backup could be made to an external hard drive or USB memory stick. That's what I do, and store this backup in a completely different location to the PC. Every time I modify the data, I write to both the backup media as well as replace the original encrypted data at the same "sitting".

I know it's belts and braces, but that's just me!