User Accounts in Win XP

[effyouseakay]

I have a HP pc with Win XP Home SP2 in my Hostel.My account is the Computer 'administrator' and my roommates' have 'Limited' accounts.
They mainly use it for listening to Songs and Watching Movies.Surfing and Programming is done Exclusively by me.

The Problem is: One of them (I Dunno Who;They won't Own up) repeatedly changes their account into 'Administrator' type,I don't know how they do it but I want to Stop them from Doing it.I tried Booting in Safe Mode as 'Administrator' and Put a Password to that a/c.Also My Login Password is also very secure.
I tried putting BIOS Password also but the smart alecks that they are,they almost always succeed in getting access.

So can someone suggest me to put the same sort of 'Admin' privileges as you get to see in Reliance WebWorlds or in College Labs etc??? I think this can be done without ant 3rd party Utilities.Suggestions Please....

 

[navjotjsingh]

Change your admin pwd, delete his pwd and change your bios pwd. Tell him to change his user pwd. Also disable Fast user switching.

 

[shwetanshu]

i m not sure but may be he does this: boots into safe mode, there will be two accounts shown one is urs and the other one is ADMINISTRATOR. If u have not set password on this account, then he accesses it and then he changes his user account type to Administrator.

[edited]sorry didnt read the post fully

 

[effyouseakay]

I Did Disable Fast User Switching and Also I have reset His Password many times.My password is very Secure So He's not Changing the User Accounts by using my PW.But he's doing it some other way.Also he's able to disarm the BIOS Password.

 

[effyouseakay]

i m not sure but may be he does this: boots into safe mode, there will be two accounts shown one is urs and the other one is ADMINISTRATOR. If u have not set password on this account, then he accesses it and then he changes his user account type to Administrator.

No.In safe Mode I do have put an admin Password that is very difficult to Guess/Crack.

Whenever I return after a few days break,I see that his a/c is back to 'Admin' on the welcome screen.

 

[bharathbala2003]

ok try this from safe mode as well as normal mode

start->run-> type Regedit

there navigate to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/SECURTIY right click and select permissions.

there u have the options below in the dialog. give permissions there.

Also one more thing search your systems for key loggers i mean the programs that record your keyboard enteries, that will help him know his password.

 

[effyouseakay]

search your systems for key loggers i mean the programs that record your keyboard enteries, that will help him know his password.

I use SpyBot as well as Ad-Aware and also ToolbarCOP.So No Problems with Keyloggers.
I shall try the Regedit Thing soon.

 

[kiran_k]

check your logon.scr icon if it resembles cmd.exe then its very simple to hack your system.
it is in windows/system32. also do you have 2 operating systems, if yes then let me know, I ll tell you how that person hacks.
resetting bios passwd is childs play thou. all u have to do is reset bios.

 

[hitesh_hg]

if your system drive is not NTFS then it is a bit security concern..

Hitesh Gupta

 

[bharathbala2003]

@hitesh wat does ntfs have to do with this :roll: i dunno wat it has to do.. can u plz explain?

 

[kiran_k]

ntfs is more secure, it generally dosent let a limited acc to access admin docs or any system settings. thats what "hitesh_hg" meant.

 

[bharathbala2003]

i know its more secure.. but wat i meant is that the guy dint hack probably.. mayb he jus guesses or knows the admin pass in the safe mode.. cos effyouseakay hasnt changed it i suppose.. so incase he spies and like knows the pass.. he can easily modify and make his account admin..

@effyouseakay i suppose u shld try the regedit method.. and make sure again that u dont have any key loggers and change ya admin pass in safe mode also like sumthin very difficult to guess..

eg: eef12you sumthin like that..

 

[effyouseakay]

Aaahhhhh Kiran_k......The TownSquare /KnowHow Guy? Welcome mate....

Coming Back to the Prob,I have only One OS-Win XP Home with SP2.And yes,i do have NTFS.My Admin Password is a very Tough one to crack and I have also changed it a couple of times.Also my WinXP logon PW also is a Secure one (Its Diff from the Admin PW).Though this may sound as Bragging but it is the truth

What irks me the most is that my friend more or less takes it as a prank more than anything else.I have asked him numerous times to Stop it since he already has the access to Music & Movies.BUt He keeps doing it Jus' for the heck of it I suppose.And the changes are not too major: Just The A/c type is changed to "Admin" from llimited,nothing else.Also I once turned on the Guest A/c and disabled his a/c but he somehow turned it back on.

I hope i am not bugging you Guys with my not-much-of-a-problem but you know how it feels when someone pulls a fast one on you.I just feel How could I thwart this Smart-aleck!!!

 

[kiran_k]

well, then do one thing. just instead of disabling the account remove it and keep the files pertaining to that account in the guest accounts desktop.
This will solve the problem, but the hard way for your friends.
one more work around is to type
"control userpasswords2" in run without the quotes and to give your friends account guest previlages. that way his acc is nolonger "limited" and he cannot mess up your system.

 

[kiran_k]

also if feasable deny access of the limited accoount to yoour C:\windows and C:\program files.
That way they cannot access any system setting on your computer