setting pasword

Hi Readers,

I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a Windows
password

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection which i
have set , i shall be

taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also have two desktops
which i don't use

any passwords, being the only user but do have some protected files. What i
dont fully

understand is , i dont want to create another user choice ,reading some of
the posts

problems seems to arise by not being able to update & install programs
,servicing etc.

Opinions would be appreciated


deejaydee

deejaydee wrote:
I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a
Windows password.

Laptop/portable - setting a password will stop the casual thief from taking
your data.

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection
which i have set

That's great. That means only the stuff important to you (and whatever you
save from others that is important to them, but that they share with you)
will be on it. (Yes - that is a bit sarcastic. heh)

What is the 'password protection' that Toshiba Provides? Where do you enter
this password, etc?

I shall be taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also
have two desktops which i don't use any passwords, being the
only user but do have some protected files. What i dont fully
understand is, i dont want to create another user choice,
reading some of the posts problems seems to arise by not being
able to update & install programs ,servicing etc.
corrected strange formatting on above paragraph

You seem to have had some misguidance of why one uses logon passwords. It
has nothing to do with whether you are the only user or not, but more to do
with protecting your data at some level. You may be the only user now, but
when you leave your laptop unattended and someone can use it or if someone
breaks into your home to burgalize it - why not make it at least a little
harder for them to take your information?

In what way have you 'protected' the files you say are protected? Zipped
them into folders with passwords on the Zip files or some sort of file
encryption?

You are not going to mess up anything if you put a password on your account
*unless* you forget the password. People seem to avoid putting in a
password because of this most of the time. What they seem to miss is they
can use whatever they want as a password in Windows (practically.) For
example - although not the best password - you could make your password:

I posted a question on the Microsoft Newsgroups about passwords

You could make it something that makes sense to you, like:

I was born on October 12, 1964

Yes - those passwords *would work*. Spaces, commas and all. (Passwords
*are* case sensitive - so for many people it is easier to not use proper
punctuation in the password.)

My standard spiel on passwords:

Understanding what a good password might be is vital to your
personal and system security. You may think you do not need to password
your home computer, as you may have it in a locked area (your home) where
no one else has access to it. Remember, however, you aren't always
"in that locked area" when using your computer online - meaning you likely
have usernames and passwords associated with web sites and the likes that
you would prefer other people do not discover/use. This is why you should
understand and utilize good passwords.

Good passwords are those that meet these general rules
(mileage may vary):

Passwords should contain at least six characters, and the character
string should contain at least three of these four character types:
- uppercase letters
- lowercase letters
- numerals
- nonalphanumeric characters (e.g., *, %, &, !,

Passwords should not contain your name/username.
Passwords should be unique to you and easy to remember.

One method many people are using today is to make up a phrase that
describes a point in their life and then turning that phrase into their
password by using only certain letters out of each word in that phrase.
It's much better than using your birthday month/year or your anniversary
in a pure sense. For example, let's say my phrase is:
'Great Thanksgiving in 2007!'
I could come up with this password from that:
'Gr8Thanksgiving2007!'

I highly recommend you periodically change your passwords.
The suggested time varies, but I will throw out a 'once in every
3 to 6 months for every account you have.'

Also - many people complain that they just cannot remember the passwords
for all the sites they have - so they choose one password and use it for
everything. Not a good idea. A much better method would be to use a
Password Management tool - so you only have to remember one password,
but it opens an application that stores your username/passwords for
everything else - plus other valuable information. One that I can
recommend:

KeePass Password Safe
http://keepass.sourceforge.net/

It can even generate passwords for you.

You should know - however - that if someone wants your data, they will get
it. Encrypting helps ( a lot ) - but can be difficult to understand for a
casual user.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

deejaydee wrote:
Hi Readers,

I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a
Windows password

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection
which i have set , i shall be

taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also have two
desktops which i don't use

any passwords, being the only user but do have some protected files. What
i dont fully

understand is , i dont want to create another user choice ,reading
some of the posts

problems seems to arise by not being able to update & install programs
,servicing etc.

Opinions would be appreciated


deejaydee

I would always recommend using a password (as well as setting a strong
password on the built-in Administrator account), but note that this won't
protect your data very thoroughly. Anyone can figure out how to reset a
Windows password if they do a few minutes of research. What you may want is
file encryption (EFS).

Hi ,
May i call you Shenan , thank you for a speedy reply first.
If sarcasm is all about setting passwords , the world is full of them
bigots.

Toshiba password is set on first bootup, before it goes through the bios and
then onto windows.

The other question you ask about protection, the files etc , its so damn
good
i cant disable it, been using it since 2003. What i have to do each year is
copy
the spreadsheet over for each year and edit the figures. Sometimes its hard
to
remember how you setup initially. I am an old bugger now 72 yrs
So having read your views I will consider it ,whether i need double
security.

The other thing came with laptop, several apps, trial etc Norton Internet
Security
which i shall take off shortly when expires, Office 2007 which i have
already
taken off, SQL server which wasnt installed properly.

Anyways thank you once again for your time.


"Shenan Stanley" wrote in message
...
deejaydee wrote:
I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a
Windows password.
Laptop/portable - setting a password will stop the casual thief from
taking your data.

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection
which i have set

That's great. That means only the stuff important to you (and whatever
you save from others that is important to them, but that they share with
you) will be on it. (Yes - that is a bit sarcastic. heh)

the 'password protection' that Toshiba Provides? Where do you enter
this password, etc?

I shall be taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also
have two desktops which i don't use any passwords, being the
only user but do have some protected files. What i dont fully
understand is, i dont want to create another user choice,
reading some of the posts problems seems to arise by not being
able to update & install programs ,servicing etc.
corrected strange formatting on above paragraph

You seem to have had some misguidance of why one uses logon passwords. It
has nothing to do with whether you are the only user or not, but more to
do with protecting your data at some level. You may be the only user now,
but when you leave your laptop unattended and someone can use it or if
someone breaks into your home to burgalize it - why not make it at least a
little harder for them to take your information?

In what way have you 'protected' the files you say are protected? Zipped
them into folders with passwords on the Zip files or some sort of file
encryption?

You are not going to mess up anything if you put a password on your
account *unless* you forget the password. People seem to avoid putting in
a password because of this most of the time. What they seem to miss is
they can use whatever they want as a password in Windows (practically.)
For example - although not the best password - you could make your
password:

I posted a question on the Microsoft Newsgroups about passwords

You could make it something that makes sense to you, like:

I was born on October 12, 1964

Yes - those passwords *would work*. Spaces, commas and all. (Passwords
*are* case sensitive - so for many people it is easier to not use proper
punctuation in the password.)

My standard spiel on passwords:

Understanding what a good password might be is vital to your
personal and system security. You may think you do not need to password
your home computer, as you may have it in a locked area (your home) where
no one else has access to it. Remember, however, you aren't always
"in that locked area" when using your computer online - meaning you likely
have usernames and passwords associated with web sites and the likes that
you would prefer other people do not discover/use. This is why you should
understand and utilize good passwords.

Good passwords are those that meet these general rules
(mileage may vary):

Passwords should contain at least six characters, and the character
string should contain at least three of these four character types:
- uppercase letters
- lowercase letters
- numerals
- nonalphanumeric characters (e.g., *, %, &, !,

Passwords should not contain your name/username.
Passwords should be unique to you and easy to remember.

One method many people are using today is to make up a phrase that
describes a point in their life and then turning that phrase into their
password by using only certain letters out of each word in that phrase.
It's much better than using your birthday month/year or your anniversary
in a pure sense. For example, let's say my phrase is:
'Great Thanksgiving in 2007!'
I could come up with this password from that:
'Gr8Thanksgiving2007!'

I highly recommend you periodically change your passwords.
The suggested time varies, but I will throw out a 'once in every
3 to 6 months for every account you have.'

Also - many people complain that they just cannot remember the passwords
for all the sites they have - so they choose one password and use it for
everything. Not a good idea. A much better method would be to use a
Password Management tool - so you only have to remember one password,
but it opens an application that stores your username/passwords for
everything else - plus other valuable information. One that I can
recommend:

KeePass Password Safe
http://keepass.sourceforge.net/

It can even generate passwords for you.

You should know - however - that if someone wants your data, they will get
it. Encrypting helps ( a lot ) - but can be difficult to understand for a
casual user.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

Hi Lanwench ,
Have now setup password on one of the desktops to
see how i will
get on with. Also i just discovered today ,that setting file encryption
from within
XP on usb flash drives from laptop ,i cant get access from desktops to these
Excel
files. Wow that really hurt 5 long years of labour. So immediately i was
back on laptop
decrypting them ,kept the password though.

Is there a way forward from this dilemma , where i could keep encryption
,and use
from all three computers
deejaydee






"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
hoo.com wrote in message
x.gbl...
deejaydee wrote:
Hi Readers,

I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a
Windows password

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection
which i have set , i shall be

taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also have two
desktops which i don't use

any passwords, being the only user but do have some protected files. What
i dont fully

understand is , i dont want to create another user choice ,reading
some of the posts

problems seems to arise by not being able to update & install programs
,servicing etc.

Opinions would be appreciated


deejaydee

I would always recommend using a password (as well as setting a strong
password on the built-in Administrator account), but note that this won't
protect your data very thoroughly. Anyone can figure out how to reset a
Windows password if they do a few minutes of research. What you may want
is file encryption (EFS).

deejaydee wrote:
Hi Lanwench ,
Have now setup password on one of the desktops
to see how i will
get on with. Also i just discovered today ,that setting file
encryption from within
XP on usb flash drives from laptop ,i cant get access from desktops
to these Excel
files. Wow that really hurt 5 long years of labour. So immediately i
was back on laptop
decrypting them ,kept the password though.

Is there a way forward from this dilemma , where i could keep
encryption ,and use
from all three computers

Not in a workgroup, unless you want to muck around with certificates or look
into third party encryption stuff.

Never ever play with encryption with "live" data - wait til you know it
works on stuff you don't care about before you do anything with your real
files/folders.

deejaydee





"Lanwench [MVP - Exchange]"
hoo.com wrote in
message x.gbl...
deejaydee wrote:
Hi Readers,

I have a new Toshiba laptop. and been wondering whether to set a
Windows password

i shall be the only user. Toshiba provides password protection
which i have set , i shall be

taking the laptop abroad in a few weeks time. I also have two
desktops which i don't use

any passwords, being the only user but do have some protected
files. What i dont fully

understand is , i dont want to create another user choice ,reading
some of the posts

problems seems to arise by not being able to update & install
programs ,servicing etc.

Opinions would be appreciated


deejaydee

I would always recommend using a password (as well as setting a
strong password on the built-in Administrator account), but note
that this won't protect your data very thoroughly. Anyone can figure
out how to reset a Windows password if they do a few minutes of
research. What you may want is file encryption (EFS).