If your PC is likely to be used or interfered with by others, and you want them to keep their sticky paws off it, here’s a way to create a special message that will appear when anyone other than you tries to logon.
In Vista go Click Start, All Programs, Administrative Tools and Local Security Policy. XP users should go to Start > Control Panel > Administrative Tools and Local Security Policy. Read More»
There is no doubt that all of the security features in Windows Vista will help keep your computer secure. However, these features become less valuable when they are not turned on by default. One feature, known as user account auditing, is not turned on by default. With this feature is turned off, anyone with physical access or remote access to through a hole in your firewall (such an opening for Remote Desktop) can use a brute force attack against your user account for as long as they want without getting noticed at all. How? The default audit security policy is configured to not log any account logon events, successful or failed.
This allows an attacker to try to hack your accounts for as long as it takes to break in. There are a few ways to protect against this that I am going to go over in my next article about the Account Lockout policy. But first, it is important to turn on this account auditing so that you can see who may be trying to break into your accounts. After you have adjusted the auditing security policy, you will be able to see any account attacks including the account that they tried to logon with and where the request came from. Read More»
I’m sure you are well aware now of the advantages and disadvantages of UAC. It is great for non-admin users because it protects their computer from themselves. For advanced users, it can be a much different story causing many annoying authorization pop-ups. This is most common when you are doing a lot of activities that require admin rights such as installing applications and configuring Windows Vista after a fresh install. There is one practical solution to this issue that will help you with the UAC pop-ups if they annoy you and still benefit from the security of UAC.
This can be achieved by adjusting the local security policy to essentially disable UAC for administrators while leaving it enabled for low rights users. When you are using your PC for normal day-to-day use, log in with your low rights account. If you need to install a bunch of applications and make major system configuration changes then log in with your admin account. With fast user switching in Windows Vista you can easily switch between your accounts with little effort. Read More»
It can be used to prevent a beginner computer user from making changes to their computer by restricting them from accessing or even saving any changes to critical areas. UAP is also helpful against Spyware and other malicious software because it will require the user to consent to the action, before any system changes are made.
UAP is a good feature but sometimes it is necessary to tweak it a little so that it is less annoying for more experienced users. For example, an advanced user may be overwhelmed by the number of pop up authorization they receive. By tweaking the settings they can reduce the number of those they see as well as completely disable UAP. Although I do not recommend you completely disable UAP, you can fine tune it to be easier to get along with.
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