My state-wide teaching tour continues next Monday, March 5, 2012, 6:30 p.m. at the Del City Library in Del City, OK.
My class, “Fight the Internet Bad Guys and Win!” will teach you how to defeat the Internet bad guys who want to mess with your life. The class is free, one night only, and will last about 90 minutes. If you use a computer, you should attend. Visit my website for more details.
One section of the class is devoted to passcode-protecting your computer. Remember two weeks ago, when I discussed passcodes (formerly known as, “passwords”)? Passcodes are great for keeping unauthorized people out of your email and financial accounts, but what if you want to keep unauthorized people, like children, spouses, burglars or coworkers, from accessing your computer, in the first place? You need to passcode-protect your computer.
Computer security is deployed in layers. There is no one, single thing that you can do to magically make your computer secure; you have to apply layers of security that the bad guys have to deal with, one layer at a time, like peeling layers off an onion. The idea is that the bad guys will decide that you and your security layers are too much of a hassle, and will move on to mess with easier targets.
Passcode-protecting a computer is done in layers, also. The first layer is the operating system account login (or, “logon”) passcode. You’ve probably seen this type of login screen before; you turn on the computer, and a screen appears requiring you to enter a passcode before you are allowed to proceed. Passcode-protecting your computer in this way means that nobody can even use the computer without first entering the passcode.
To deploy this first layer of passcode protection on a Windows computer, go to Start, Settings, Control Panel, User Accounts. Assign the desired account a passcode, following the rules of complex passcodes, and you’re all set. You’ll want to memorize this passcode, because you’ll be typing it in every time you turn on your computer. Otherwise, write down it down and keep it in a secure location.
The next layer is to passcode-protect the screensaver. You will set your computer to turn on the screensaver after a certain period of inactivity (a few minutes), which you will specify. You will then set the machine to require that a passcode be entered before normal activity can be resumed.
This sort of protection is required at all conscientious businesses, government agencies and military installations. It means that, while you are away from your desk tending to personal matters, your computer’s screensaver turns on, denying access to any curious snoopers who may happen along. Google for, “passcode protect screensaver” and you’ll find zillions of websites filled with instructions on how this is done. It’s easy.
If you use Windows XP (which is fine for the next few years), you also need to protect the default (and, hidden) Administrator account. All versions of Windows, including Vista and 7, have a hidden Administrator account, which exists mostly for system maintenance and troubleshooting. The hidden Administrator account is protected in Windows Vista and 7, but in Windows XP, it is wide open to hacking and exploitation, as it can access everything in the computer, even the other, passcode-protected accounts.
To access the Administrator account in Windows XP, and give it a passcode, you need to start your computer in “Safe Mode,” which is a special way of running Windows that makes certain repairs easier. To start in Safe Mode, turn on your computer and start repeatedly tapping the F8 key, about every half-second, or so. Eventually, a screen will open up, giving you the option to start in Safe Mode.
Choose the option to start in Safe Mode, choose to start Windows XP, and Safe Mode will start. Things will look strange and different but, trust me, Safe Mode will start. Soon, you will be given the option to login to the previously hidden Administrator account. Once you are in the Administrator account, assign it a passcode in the same way as described above and you will have added another layer to your security onion.
Next week, we will look at passcode-protecting your computer’s BIOS, which will prevent anyone from undoing the protections I have described above.