Protecting your user account
When several users are using the same computer, it is highly needed to create different user accounts for each person that uses the computer. In this way, each of the users can customize his/her desktop as desired, and also the operating system may prevent other users from accessing files that do not belong to them or those that they are not authorised to open. For example if your kids are using the computer, such user protection prevents accidental deletion of important documents by them. Starting with Windows 2000, this function became effective and the level of protection has been constantly upgraded with new Windows operating systems released.
It is important to understand user accounts in order to properly manage them. User accounts are divided into what is known as groups. Each group has some specific rights and can perform certain tasks and may be disallowed to perform others. The most common groups are Administrators and Users. Administrators are the most powerful and they have the right to do almost anything on the computer. Users are not allowed to do everything (for example installing and uninstalling programs may be prohibited for a common user) but they are permitted to use existing software normally, based on the rights assigned to them by the administator(s). Now each new installed Windows operating system usually has three accounts, one is the Administrator account which is absolutely needed because you need at least an administrator account in order to be able to manage your computer. Second there is at least a user account created during installation, and for example in Windows XP, during the installation process at least a user account needs to be created before the operating system can be used. Finally there is also the Guest account that we will talk about below.
The first thing you should check is that the Guest account is disabled, and make sure it remains that way. This is extremely important because the Guest account exists on Windows operating systems for convenience, but it is very dangerous for your computer security. If the Guest account is enabled, basically anyone can log into your computer even without explicit rights to do so - that's because the Guest account does exactly that, allow anyone to enter and use the computer as a guest without the need to enter a proper password.
Then, you may discover that you have an account named Administrator. Needless to say, this is usually the main administrator account and what you should do about it is first of all to change its name to something else; this is because most people attempting to hack into your system will start by assuming that there is an user named Administrator on the box that does allow them full access to everything, and the only thing they still need to do is to figure out the password. So renaming the Administrator account is an important security measure that you can take.
It is also important to remember this - never use the Administrator account for your daily work. This account is intended for special install and configure operations on your Windows operating system, but not for daily use. Therefore, make sure you create a normal user account and use that on regular basis; and you will switch to the Administrator account only when you need to install new programs or perform other important operations.
It is important to understand user accounts in order to properly manage them. User accounts are divided into what is known as groups. Each group has some specific rights and can perform certain tasks and may be disallowed to perform others. The most common groups are Administrators and Users. Administrators are the most powerful and they have the right to do almost anything on the computer. Users are not allowed to do everything (for example installing and uninstalling programs may be prohibited for a common user) but they are permitted to use existing software normally, based on the rights assigned to them by the administator(s). Now each new installed Windows operating system usually has three accounts, one is the Administrator account which is absolutely needed because you need at least an administrator account in order to be able to manage your computer. Second there is at least a user account created during installation, and for example in Windows XP, during the installation process at least a user account needs to be created before the operating system can be used. Finally there is also the Guest account that we will talk about below.
The first thing you should check is that the Guest account is disabled, and make sure it remains that way. This is extremely important because the Guest account exists on Windows operating systems for convenience, but it is very dangerous for your computer security. If the Guest account is enabled, basically anyone can log into your computer even without explicit rights to do so - that's because the Guest account does exactly that, allow anyone to enter and use the computer as a guest without the need to enter a proper password.
Then, you may discover that you have an account named Administrator. Needless to say, this is usually the main administrator account and what you should do about it is first of all to change its name to something else; this is because most people attempting to hack into your system will start by assuming that there is an user named Administrator on the box that does allow them full access to everything, and the only thing they still need to do is to figure out the password. So renaming the Administrator account is an important security measure that you can take.
It is also important to remember this - never use the Administrator account for your daily work. This account is intended for special install and configure operations on your Windows operating system, but not for daily use. Therefore, make sure you create a normal user account and use that on regular basis; and you will switch to the Administrator account only when you need to install new programs or perform other important operations.
This information is provided without any warranties of any kind. Use it at your own risk. Terms and conditions