Re: Screen saver password

From: *Vanguard* (no-email_at_post-reply-in-newsgroup.invalid)
Date: 03/20/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2004 04:43:07 -0600

"L.A." said in news:107d701c40e62$2be29530$a501280a@phx.gbl:

> a) If the screen saver is password protected and I didn't
> know the password, can I guess the password and type in
> various passwords?

The same for you login password or the password for anything. Nothing
stops you from guessing.

> b) Would the computer freeze me out after a number of
> attempts at guessing the password?

If that policy is enabled.

> c) Does the computer record my attempts at guessing the
> password?

If auditing is enabled to record login attempts (for both succeed and
failure). Why do you care that login attempts are audited if it really
is your computer?

> d) I've heard the screen saver password is the same as the
> login-in password. Is this true?

Yes.

> The reason why I'm asking these questions is because I've
> had some trouble in the past with my little brother
> guessing the password on my screen saver.

If your little brother can guess your passwords then you have admitted
that you use extremely weak passwords. The shorter the string length
and if it is composed of a word or two then obviously the easier it is
to guess at.

Don't just rely on the screen saver password to protect you. When you
walk away, the screen saver won't activate until whenever it is
configured to timeout after some idle period. That means your computer
is still wide open for anyone to use. Hit Win+L to immediately lockup
your computer without having to logoff.

You might also consider configure the power options to use the power
button to put your computer into hibernate mode. Then hit the power
button and the computer shuts off but it will startup faster because it
simply reads the hibernate file to restore the memory image as it was.
Then enable the system password in BIOS. Little bro would have to power
up, guess the BIOS password to continue the bootup, and then have to
guess the password to get into the current session. Just make the
passwords different and little bro then has to guess at two of them. 

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