User accounts to logon personal data secured l?

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

If i want to let some one else in the family use the pc, when i am set as administrator now, how would i lock all my data, and let someone else have just access to the internet and any programs that would normally be necessary, for functionality?

I know some of my kids have theirs totally password protected, but i don't know how that secures access to data?

Ido not know if this has anything to do with my question.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/l...8WS.10%29.aspx

after reading this article more above i don't know if i want to do that?

vista home premium 32 bit, ie 7,// firefox main browser

tks

[SuperSparks]

That article relates to something different. If you are an admin, and the other account are set to "Standard user", then they will not be able to access your data unless you give explicit permissions for them to do so. Be aware that they will be able to see file and folder names though.

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

After going to control panel last night and looking at user accounts, i came away more confused.
Since i had the pc built and vista installed and activated i have never had a password,

It shows me as "administrator", however if something needs to be done under administrator, i just use the drop down, "no password has ever been asked for" Should there have been?

It says also, standard should be the way to use the pc everyday, ?
Now i guess i wonder what i'm doing?

I was more concerned about something being dfownloaded, when one of the ghrandkids was using facebook or on of their online games?

need a lesson i guess?
tks

[SuperSparks]

You should use a password, it is good security practice anyway, but you need to do that if you are going to have other accounts, or they can just log into yours and do what they want.

Before Vista, the accepted wisdom as that you should run as a Standard user, and only log into an Admin account when necessary. However, because there was so much badly-written software around that insisted on admin privileges, doing things that way was totally impractical. So for Vista, MS developed the User Account Control. Provided you don't disable it, UAC runs your admin account as a standard user until such time as admin privileges are needed, when you get that nag window. So you are safe to run your account as admin in Vista.

Your grandkids should each be given their own standard accounts, to which you can add parental controls if you wish (I did so for my niece, and they work very well). That way, any nasty that they did manage to download won't be able to install anyway, because they don't have admin access.

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

So i should create a password anyway to logon? and being i haven't read it in the control panel is it straight forward.

Right now there are 1-3 that will use it occasionally, so i create an account for each one, and a password different for those 3, than it is run as standard for them?

Is the control panel the best help page i could follow?
tks much

[SuperSparks]

It's really self-explanatory, creating and managing accounts in Control Panel>User accounts. But here is a good tutorial if you do get stuck:

http://www.vista4beginners.com/Manage-User-Accounts

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

Thanks

if you were-are using vista home premium, 32 bit, did you use password and or standard or administrator? If no one else was using your system?

Just for conversation

tks

[SuperSparks]

On my main rig I am the only user, and I run an admin account with a (strong) password. The other members of the household run either admin or standard on their accounts, but everyone uses a password, except for my niece who is a bit young for a pw. I do that because it is good security practice, but be under no illusions that it gives a great amount of security. If I was to sit down in front of your PC right now, I could be in your account in a couple of minutes, regardless of how good your password is

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

If I was to sit down in front of your PC right now, I could be in your account in a couple of minutes, regardless of how good your password is

i heard this from someone else sometime back, without divulging that ,is it years of experience that does that or holes in the account?

tks

[SuperSparks]

It's mostly experience. When it comes to security it is best to take the view that whoever has physical access to a machine owns it. It is possible to make your files secure, but it is quit hard work, and you need to know what you are doing or you can end up locking yourself out of your own files

[egdufwollamhsram1851]

being a name is listed as administrator, i have never logged on with a password, so if i create one as administrator, the next time i boot up, vista will throw a password window at me? i guess i'm concerned about do i have a password i don't know about from the builder, be that the name by administrator?
like you say don't lock me out, i have read the help issues but i still read between the lines and prefer experience instead of just help words
tks

[SuperSparks]

The hidden, default admin account was a Win XP thing, you don't need to worry about that in Vista. Just add a password to your normal admin account, and don't forget what it is, and you'll be fine.