Personal Finance | eBay | Myspace Layouts | MPAA | Credit Cards UK
Supervisor Password [Archive] - PCMech Forums

PDA

View Full Version : Supervisor Password


TVANWINKLE
07-08-2004, 04:59 PM
Hello,

For security purposes I went into my ME system set up area and set the supervisor/administrator password for entry at start up. My question is, is there a way to by-pass this password prompt should my laptop fall into the wrong hands? Would it render my laptop useless without my password?



Thanks

andyms18a
07-08-2004, 05:28 PM
any password can be bypassed if you know wot your doing even on win nt based systems

TVANWINKLE
07-08-2004, 05:36 PM
Thanks for your reply
So what your saying is I have been living under a false sense of security....lol... Great... Any suggestions towards better security without spending an arm and a leg?

Thanks

GaryRouth
07-08-2004, 06:24 PM
Well, there's the option to add another layer of difficulty to the whole matter by using a third party program to encrypt your most sensitive data. That will pretty much rule out any amateurs cracking in.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1141730,00.asp
http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,1309268,00.asp

It seems the folder level encryption makes the pros work the hardest to get to things. You might be able to get good suggestions over in the security forum, too - there are some pretty knowledgeable folks over there.
. . . Gary

[p.s. ...one thing that's still fairly new & I'm no expert on is the BioMetrics security angle = where you use a fingerprint scanner (or a retina scanner) to access systems or folders]

[. . . and Hi there, andy]

TVANWINKLE
07-08-2004, 09:31 PM
Thanks for the reply Gary!!!

I have played around with encryption before but had a very bad experience, of course it was a free ware program and I should have known better or expected the worse....I forgot all about those biometrics PCMCIA cards.....That may be the better solution. Thanks for the help....

andyms18a
07-09-2004, 01:49 PM
a good first line of defence is to bios lock the computer with a bios password that you have to enter when ever you switch it on also switching to a ntfs based operating system with a ntfs file system will give you a higher level of protection for 99% security lock the laptop in a safe when your not using it :D :D and Gary's idea of a biometric log on is very good

PS hi Gary how you doing ?

TVANWINKLE
07-09-2004, 05:09 PM
Andy,

Think i'll have any luck getting that safe through airport security? :cool: lol. I found some pretty cool solutions here (http://www.envoydata.com/sc_drives/precise_index.htm) that I may just try.

Thanks again for your feedback!