Taking ownership

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Are you saying the Administrator account is automatically enabled in
Safe Mode? Yikes -- that would be a huge security hole, since
anyone
who gets hold of your computer could simply boot into Safe Mode and
have access to everything.

As I mentioned in my reply to Tom Lake, the Administrator account is
only enabled automatically in Safe Mode if there are no other accounts
with administrator privileges left on the system. So in Windows 7 (or
Vista, since it works the same way) you can't just boot into Safe Mode
and gain access to any system that way. Although, if you have
physical access to the system and are able to reboot it, you "own" the
system anyway. Booting to a CD or USB drive and accessing files on
the system, or even removing the password on a given account, is
trivial at that point.

 

[Stan Brown]

As I mentioned in my reply to Tom Lake, the Administrator account is
only enabled automatically in Safe Mode if there are no other accounts
with administrator privileges left on the system.

Thanks; I feel better now.

Although, if you have physical access to the system and are able to
reboot it, ... Booting to a CD or USB drive and accessing files on
the system, or even removing the password on a given account, is
trivial at that point.

And now I don't.

I guess what I really need to do is encrypt my sensitive files.

 

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Thanks; I feel better now.


And now I don't.

As well you shouldn't. Most folks don't believe me when I tell them I
can have full access to their (Windows) system in under 5 minutes if
I'm sitting down in front of it. Sometimes they'll get cheeky and
tell me they would set the BIOS password first - my response at that
point is that I'd need a bit longer so make it 10 minutes to be
comfortable

I guess what I really need to do is encrypt my sensitive files.

That is the best way I can think of to prevent casual intruders
(someone with basic computer / Google skills) from accessing your
data. In fact, that should keep all but the most determined and
well-funded (think state-sponsored entities) from getting to your
sensitive files.

--
Zaphod

Arthur: All my life I've had this strange feeling that there's
something big and sinister going on in the world.
Slartibartfast: No, that's perfectly normal paranoia. Everyone in the
universe gets that.