In Windows 9x, passwords can limit access to your PC. From the Network icon
in Control Panel (Click Start, Settings, Control Panel), you can require a
password to log on by selecting Windows Logon from the Primary Network Logon
field. (You�ll have to restart to implement the changes.) To change the
password for an account, log on using the current password and navigate to
Start, Settings, Control Panel, and Passwords.
When you start your PC, a window appears requesting a User Name and Password.
Once entered, the computer verifies both by looking for the Username.pwl file,
where the username you entered stores the local password.
If correct, the computer logs you on, allowing access to the Windows Desktop.
From this point, you can access almost anything on the computer. With the
addition of Policies, the �owner� or Administrator of a
given computer can restrict, based on user IDs, which files and programs each
person can view and access. Policies can be a little tricky because they are not
enabled by default and require some work to set up and properly configure. But
despite the learning curve, they can provide a far more advanced security model
at no additional cost.
Notably, if a system hasn�t been configured with policies but has been
configured to use passwords, it�s possible to log on to the computer from the
Password box and view everything on the computer by pressing the ESC key. While
this doesn�t log in to networked resources, it gives anyone full access to
your hard drive and its files. You can prevent this by installing and properly
configuring policies.
To add policies to computers running Windows 9x, load Security
Administrator and in
Passwords (click Start, Settings, Control Panel, Passwords), check the Users Can
Customize Their Preferences And Desktop Settings radio button. Check both of the
boxes under User Profile Settings, too. Policies let you restrict user options
when another user logs on to the machine. Use them to restrict access to
programs, hard drives, and configuration options, such as network and video, on
a per-user basis, which gives you more security and control of your PC.