can any body get win 2000 administrator password

[saharika]

Well
I am administrator at My school with the LAN with about 20 com with all win 2000 professional installed
I have put on administrator password with my self But i feel that some student have access to it i mean have got it from some where
well i think it is ome software or some trick in windows
what is that
well i am 100 % sure that it is not any kind of keylogger
So do nay body have any idea how cam one get or they got that password
I think some people will be kind enough to help me
thanks

[Tuttle]

If you have physical access to a machine, you can change any password on the system, including the Administrator password. A freeware tool is available for this.

If you have the ability to run software on a machine as a member of the Administrators group, you can gain passwords on that machine in a number of ways. A tool is commercially available to decrypt the password hashes on the machine; in the vast majority of cases you can have the passwords for the accounts on that machine within about 10 minutes. Using passwords (or phrases) 15 characters or longer is a good defence against that sort of attack. You can also install a trojan which catches authentication attempts, password changes etc -- that will capture domain logins as well as local ones. If you log into a compromised PC as a domain admin, there goes your whole domain. Keylogging is also an option which you've identified.

If you are a Power User on a machine, you can become an Administrator with a little bit of effort.

[C M]

The easiest way to prevent this is to use Group Policy, take away a lot of the movement for the users.

Then block access to the boot menu.

It can only be compromised, by them seeing you type it, you writing it down, leaving a PC logged in as an Administrator, or through a Freeware bootup password hacker, or if they can access the Computer Manager/Active Directory.

[jmtjet]

One last thought. Change your password often. Everyday if you suspect it's being hacked. Then if the hacking is still going on, you know someone has some software or a keylogger hidden somewhere. Keyloggers are so small now that they can fit between the keyboard P/S 2 connector and the machine. Good luck.