Vista Tips - Secure the Administrator account

The Administrator account is the most important account on the computer because it has the highest permissions and can do anything it wants to the configuration and settings of your computer.

Securing this valuable account is critical to the overall security of your computer.This can be accomplished by ensuring the account is disabled, setting a strong password, and renaming it so that it is harder for malicious scripts and viruses to try to use.

Doing this is very similar to securing the Guest account as you just did in the Assigning Password on Guest Account.

Follow these steps to protect your Administrator account:

• Click the Start menu, right-click Computer, and select Manage.
• After Computer Manager loads, expand Local Users and Groups and select the Users folder.
• Right-click the Administrator account and select Properties.
• Check the Account is disabled option if it is not already selected. Then, click OK to save the changes.
• Right-click the Administrator account and select Set Password.
• A warning screen will appear, telling you about what might happen if you proceed. Disregard this message and click Proceed.
• When the Set Password window appears, type a completely random complex password that is at least 20 characters long in both boxes and click OK. The new password will now be set.
• Rename the account to confuse any malicious scripts that might be looking for it. Right-click the Administrator account again and select Rename.
• Type a new name for the account that has some random letters and numbers in it. I like to use AdminDisabled2341 as a new name.
• Press Enter and you are finished.

Now both of the built-in Windows Vista accounts are secured.

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Tips for Securing your Computer

1. Update / patch ALL your software every now and then!

2. Check / adjust ALL your settings so they are safe, since they AREN'T by default!

3. Use firewall, like Zone Alarm!

4. Use good passwords: at least 13marks long, containing both letters and numbers. Remember to chance your password every few months at least!

5. Get a good anti virus program: F-Secure or Norton Anti virus and keep it updated!

6. Don’t open or execute files that you are not 100% sure are absolutely safe no matter where or how you get them.

7. Wipe your history files (like cookies, internet history and temporary files, etc.), logs and personal files, with specific wiping program (like Eraser) instead of just deleting them.

8. Use encryption to enhance your privacy! Use encrypted email (like Hushmail or Ziplip) and encrypt sensitive files on your computer (PGP).

9. Don’t use public computers for anything you need to type in your logins, they usually have Trojan horses that capture your passwords.

10. Don’t assume anything. If you don’t know, find out! If you cant or don’t understand, ask someone who knows! There’s nothing more dangerous than doing something you don’t really know anything about. That’s the best way to cripple your system or get a Trojan horse on your computer!

How to secure hide/unhide folders on Personal Computer

This is very helpful to hide and secure your personal data from other users, particularly on home computer. Just imagine if multiple users are using the same computer at home or in office environment then there is no any 100% secure method to protect your personal files. You may be used any third party tools to protect your folders but it is not recommended by Microsoft to use such kinds of tools. Using built-in windows (XP, 2003, Vista) Attrib commands option, you can change the attributes of a folder (Read only, Hidden and System attributes) and safe your data.

Follow the given steps to edit the folders attributes to secure your data:

To enable this feature, you will need to be logged into your computer with administrative rights, then create a folder that you want to hide on any computer drive. (For example, you have created a folder on D:\ drive with the name Pictures)

Then go to run command from start and type cmd then press enter.When the command prompt opens,then type the command attrib +s +h D:\Pictures and press Enter button to execute it.

This command will hide your "Pictures" folder from D:\ drive and now you can verify it.

Any one can not unhide this folder using windows Show hidden files and folders option also.

When you want to unhide this folder, again open command prompt and type the command attrib -s -h D:\Pictures and press Enter button. If you want to hide files then simply move all these files to this "Pictures" folder.

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