What Password Protection Does Windows Offer?

Windows has many different resources that can be password protected. The major passwords are the following:

• User password The password for your user account. You type it when you start up Windows or switch from one user to another, if your computer has user accounts for which passwords have been created. You can change your password at any time. Windows also stores a password hint -a word or phrase that would remind you of your password if you forget it, but that wouldn't give the password away to anyone else. If you are truly concerned about forgetting your password (we always are!), you can also create a password reset disk , a floppy disk or a USB flash drive that you can use to log on to your user account even if you forget your password. If your computer does not have a floppy disk drive, or you do not have a USB flash drive, you cannot make a password reset disk.

  Note  

  You have the option to not have a password. Simply choose not to enter one when prompted by the Windows Vista Setup Wizard, or remove the password later (see the Appendix). Regardless of your choice, if you plan on being the only user of your computer, you can opt to automatically log into your machine. Just make sure you aren't offering free access to sensitive data to unauthorized individuals.

• Domain password The password used to validate your username to host computers on a LAN that is controlled by Windows 2003 Server, Windows .NET Server, Windows .NET Advanced Server, Windows 2000 Server, Windows NT, or compatible LAN servers. If your domain password is missing or invalid, you can't gain access to disks or printers on the LAN.

• Encrypted ZIP compressed folders You can assign a password to a ZIP compressed folder (see "What Are Compressed Folders?" in Chapter 9).

• NTFS encryption password for a file or folder In Windows Vista Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise editions, you can assign a password to files and folders stored in NTFS partitions (see "What Are Attributes?" in Chapter 9). Encryption isn't available on FAT32 partitions.

This chapter describes how to create user passwords to secure your computer and your Documents folder. See Chapter 33 for additional information if your computer is on a LAN.