stop a user from logging on without deleting the account

For Home Edition users, there is no cure for this problem; you must delete the user account if you want to stop a user from logging on, or you can reset the password without giving the user the new password. For XP Professional users, you can disable an account instead of deleting it, but you have to use the Local Users and Groups console to configure this option.

Disabling an account is usually done for specific reasons, namely for security. For example, let’s say you have very sensitive data stored on Windows XP. A particular user may be out of the office for a month. You do not want to delete the account, but you can disable it in order to provide extra security while the user is away.

To disable an account, follow these steps:

1. Click Start--> Control Panel--> Administrative Tools--> Computer Management.

2. Expand Local Users and Groups--> and select the Users container.

3. In the right pane of the console--> right-click on the user account that you want to disable and click Properties.

4. On the General tab--> click the Account is Disabled check box to disable the account.

5. Click OK.

Data will be Lost When Resetting Password

For security reasons, Windows XP ties certain user information directly to the account and password. If a user forgets his or her password, you can choose to reset the password. However, data will be lost if you do so. Specifically, user certificates and Web-related passwords, along with basic computer settings, will be lost once the password is reset. There is no workaround for this problem once the password has been forgotten, but you can prevent the loss of data and the reset problems by creating a password reset disk.

I cannot enforce password restrictions

The default XP behavior allows users to create and modify their own passwords. As an administrator, you can access the User Accounts tool in Control Panel to create a password for a user. However, the user can change the password with the User Accounts tool after he or she logs on. If you are using Windows XP Home Edition, I’m afraid you are stuck. Users can always create a different password with the User Accounts tool, and there are no direct rules you can enforce. However, if you are using Windows XP Professional, you have an additional tool that you can use to enforce password restrictions.

To configure additional password restrictions in Windows XP Professional, follow these steps:

1. Log on with an administrator account.

2. Click Start--> Control Panel--> Administrative Tools--> Computer Management.

3. In the left pane of the Computer Management console--> expand Local Users and Groups and select the Users container. You can see a listing of user accounts on your computer in the right pane.

4. Right-click the desired user account and click Properties.

5. On the General tab--> you see a list of restriction options. You can make sure that the user has to change his or her password at the next logon, that the user cannot change his or her password, or that the password never expires--> Click the desired check box and click OK.

Note: If you like using the Local Users and Groups console, you can also create and delete user accounts here without using User Accounts in Control Panel. Just right-click the Users container and click New User. You can delete an account or manage its properties by right-clicking the account icon in the right window pane.

What makes a good password?

A password has to be something you can easily remember, but something other users cannot easily guess. As a general rule, passwords should be “complex,” which means they should be at least eight characters long and should use both letters (upper- and lowercase) and numbers. The names of your kids, pets, phone numbers, and other commonly known items should not be used as your password. Often, it is best to combine a couple of common items, such as your favorite pet, food, or automobile with some random numbers that you can remember.

Here are some examples of good passwords:

• Parrot4598
• OceAn45surf
• JiMMy72ball
• 14573porchE

Folders take too much Space on my hard disk

The more data you have stored in folders, the more hard disk space that is consumed. This is particularly true for multimedia files, such as pictures, music, and video, which consume a lot of megabytes on the hard disk. The good news is that Windows XP supports a compression feature that reduces overall folder size, which helps conserve hard disk space. Once you compress the folder, you can still use it just as you normally would.

If multiple people use your computer, or if your computer is on a network and you are worried about someone looking at files in your folders, you can also encrypt folders so that no one can view what is inside except you. To you, the folders and files appear the same, but if anyone else tries to access them, he or she gets an Access Denied message.

Prevention:

• Compression and encryption are not compatible with each other. You can
• compress a folder or you can encrypt a folder, but you cannot do both. Also,
• compression and encryption only work on NTFS formatted drives—not FAT32.

If your hard drive is not formatted with NTFS, you can’t use compression or encryption. It should also be noted here that compressed folders are not the same as zipped folders, which can be compressed with the popular WinZip utility. WinZip works on either FAT or NTFS folders.

Solution:

To use compression or encryption on a folder, follow these steps:

1.  In the folder that you want to compress or encrypt, click File--> Properties.

Note: Encryption is not available on the Home Edition of XP. You’ll see the option listed, but it is grayed out.

2.  The properties pages appear. On the General tab--> click the Advanced button (if the Advanced button is not there, the folder is on a FAT32 drive. Compression and encryption are not available on FAT32 drives).

3.  Click the Compress Contents check box to compress the folder. If you want to encrypt the folder--> click the Encrypt Contents check box. Click OK and OK on the General tab. You can remove the compression or encryption at any time by returning to this window and removing the check from the box.