Norton security inspector/user accounts

Hello everyone,

I've had Norton for about 6 months now and just ran the security inspector, it said I had 1 vunerability which was an administrator account that had a weak or missing password, I thought me and my wife were the only administrator accounts did I miss something?

Me and my wife are both computer administrator's that are password protected and there's 1 guest account which is turned off, I was going to give this administrator account a password (I guess)....... , do I need this account?, the security inspector asks if I want to exclude or no action, If I say exclude will this leave me still vunerable?.

I did notice that when I went into safe mode I had on log-in, the administrator account and me and my wife's account, in that order, I clicked on administrator account and indeed there is no password, I can instantly log-on.

I just want to be safe and get this resolved .

Thanks

James

 

I'm assuming you are using XPHome. Typically when you install your OS, the administrator account (at least with xp home) is considered the local admin account.

With xp home, the only way to login with this account is via safemode. I personally would highly recommend you to password protect this account. Why?

One could boot into safe mode, log in as administrator. Then delete, rename your passwords, delete your accounts, etc.... Or do other malicious things.

 

Hello thefool,

Yes, it is windows xp home edition sp2

I'm assuming I would only be able to give this account a password in safe mode right , and how would I do this, the same as in normal mode?, how would I log in now, the same way as before as me and my wife have computer administrator accounts and seperate passwords to log-on.

James

 

Yes, in safemode, and the same way.

This is XP HOME correct?

 

yes it is

 

>> I did notice that when I went into safe mode I had on log-in, the administrator account and me and my wife's account, in that order, I clicked on administrator account and indeed there is no password, I can instantly log-on. I just want to be safe and get this resolved << quartermilerocket

Both Windows XP Home and Pro versions have this "hidden" administrator account. By default, it does not have a password set. The "hidden" Windows XP account named "Administrator" has full privileges to everything on your computer, leaving a HUGE security hole if it does not have a password set. In order to avoid potentially serious security problems, it is best to set a password for this (administrator) account on your computer. To do so, follow the instructions found at this webpage link.

To hide this administrator account from would-be hackers:
Change its name to something less obvious - avoiding variations of the word "administrator" like "adm" or "admin" - Here's how:

(1) Click the Start Menu button.
(2) Click Control Panel.
(3) Open User Accounts.
(4) Select the User Name of "Administrator" and click the Properties button.
(5) Enter a new [more secure] User name for the administrator account and click OK to save.

It is also a good idea to Rename and/or Disable the Windows XP Guest Account:
Windows XP has another default account named "Guest". Repeat the instructions above to rename this account, selecting "Guest" as the User Name to alter in step 3. Once again, any variations of the word "Guest" should be avoided.

You can safely Disable the Windows XP Guest Account as an extra security step:

(1) Click the Start Menu button and then Click Control Panel.
(2) Open User Accounts.
(3) Click the Advanced tab, then the Advanced 'button' (in the "Advanced user management" section).
(4) Select the Users folder to view the local users.
(5) Right click on the Guest Account (the Description column should read "Built-in account for guest access to the computer/domain") and select Properties from the menu.
(6) Check "Account is disabled" and click OK to save.

Related Notes:
In many versions of Windows; any particular user name may have a blank password, which allows anyone to log in to the computer simply by clicking. Make sure that all user accounts on the machine have passwords to protect access to your computer. Make sure that you add account passwords on ALL of your computer's accounts. Click here to find out how.

Good Luck!

 

What exactly do I need this account for, do I need it to do certain things?

But the main thing, is will me and my wife still be able to log as before?

 

Yes, everything will be fine. Since this is not affecting your two accounts. Just the administrator account.

 

Thanks COMPUABLE for your reply,

Still need to know if doing this will change the way I log in.

James

 

Read above!

 

Ok thefool,

I guess I don't need to worry about this, as I'm not planning on making major changes on my computer, about the only thing that will happen is my wife runs the web page for her job and she of course uses our computer to make changes and so forth.... just making sure everything will be ok. Sorry for the above post I guess I'm a little slow (typing I mean)
you guys reply pretty fast!!!!!!!!



Thanks

James

 

No problem. We posted at the same time.