Home Computer Talk

In Are you Safe? Part 1 I talked about whether or not our home computer is secure. Talking to Mr JM it seems even I had a false sense of security about the subject.
For example, I thought my physical computer kept my data pretty safe and my main concern was having internet sites do things to my computer. Not so…

The process of installing Windows involves setting up a user account. Most people simply walk through the install process clicking {next} on the default settings. This usually results in the creation of a named user, say ‘John’ and an Administrator account.

The problem is, while some people will provide a password for the John account, they totally ignore the Administrator account – after all, they aren’t going to be using it.

Hackers know this. Most people operate in predictable ways unless they deliberately try to alter their patterns and that means your computer is vulnerable. By using the Administrator account, your entire computer is open to someone from the outside. They can even lock you out of your own system by altering your password.

I’ll cover how they might be getting to your information in the next part, but for now, for your own safety, do the following.

Click on {Start} then {Control Panel} then {User Accounts} then click on the {/user}{user Accounts} at the bottom of the windows. On most Windows setups you will see two user accounts – the one you’re using and one called ‘Guest.’ Don’t worry about Guest – it has little or no rights on the machine and is not a danger to your security.

Click on your user account. There is a list near the top – if one of the items is ‘Create a Password’ your account has no password on it. Click {create a password} and enter a password that you will remember. It should be at least six letters or numbers long for good security.. Click in the second line and enter the password again. Then click in the third line and type in a hint that will help you remember what the password is.

Click {/create}{create a Password} to save the changes. You will be asked if you want your files to be private. This doesn’t stop anyone else with an Administrator-level account from viewing them but will stop a more limited user from seeing any of them. So if you share documents with other people in the house, it’s best to answer ‘No’ to this.

Now, did you see an Administrator account there? If not, I will tell you how to find it in the next part. If you did, you should follow the same procedure to give it a password.