Guest Mike McCollister Posted June 8, 2008 Posted June 8, 2008 I have an external drive on my vista machine that has gives "Users" full control. I just found out that the guest account is part of the "Users" group. Is there a group that does not include the guest account? Basically I don't want to have my backup drive accessible to the guest account. Is that possible without replacing "Users" with each individual account? Thanks, Mike Quote
Guest Mike McCollister Posted June 8, 2008 Posted June 8, 2008 I forgot to mention that I am running Windows Home Premium. Thanks, Mike "Mike McCollister" <MikeMcCollister_DELETEME_@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:2396F05A-7904-4479-8E15-F85B6890ECA9@microsoft.com...<span style="color:blue"> >I have an external drive on my vista machine that has gives "Users" full >control. I just found out that the guest account is part of the "Users" >group. Is there a group that does not include the guest account? Basically >I don't want to have my backup drive accessible to the guest account. Is >that possible without replacing "Users" with each individual account? > > Thanks, > > Mike </span> Quote
Guest Malke Posted June 8, 2008 Posted June 8, 2008 Mike McCollister wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > I forgot to mention that I am running Windows Home Premium. > > Thanks, > > Mike > > "Mike McCollister" <MikeMcCollister_DELETEME_@hotmail.com> wrote in > message news:2396F05A-7904-4479-8E15-F85B6890ECA9@microsoft.com...<span style="color:green"> >>I have an external drive on my vista machine that has gives "Users" full >>control. I just found out that the guest account is part of the "Users" >>group. Is there a group that does not include the guest account? Basically >>I don't want to have my backup drive accessible to the guest account. Is >>that possible without replacing "Users" with each individual account?</span></span> The Guest account is normally disabled. Apparently for some unknown reason you've enabled yours. Disable it and the problem goes away. If you want to have an individual account for visitors, make one (Standard user account) and called it something clever like "Visitors". To protect yourself in case of account corruption, you should be working from a Standard user account for your daily stuff anyway with at least one extra Administrative user account set up for emergencies. Then if you want to log in and go directly to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista: Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm All that aside, if you want to keep the contents on your external hard drive private, consider encrypting it with something like TrueCrypt (free). Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com Don't Panic! Quote
Guest Mike McCollister Posted June 8, 2008 Posted June 8, 2008 What is wrong with using the Guest account? Mike "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:OEojihWyIHA.1436@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Mike McCollister wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> I forgot to mention that I am running Windows Home Premium. >> >> Thanks, >> >> Mike >> >> "Mike McCollister" <MikeMcCollister_DELETEME_@hotmail.com> wrote in >> message news:2396F05A-7904-4479-8E15-F85B6890ECA9@microsoft.com...<span style="color:darkred"> >>>I have an external drive on my vista machine that has gives "Users" full >>>control. I just found out that the guest account is part of the "Users" >>>group. Is there a group that does not include the guest account? >>>Basically >>>I don't want to have my backup drive accessible to the guest account. Is >>>that possible without replacing "Users" with each individual account?</span></span> > > The Guest account is normally disabled. Apparently for some unknown reason > you've enabled yours. Disable it and the problem goes away. If you want to > have an individual account for visitors, make one (Standard user account) > and called it something clever like "Visitors". To protect yourself in > case > of account corruption, you should be working from a Standard user account > for your daily stuff anyway with at least one extra Administrative user > account set up for emergencies. Then if you want to log in and go directly > to the Desktop (into one particular user's account) for convenience, you > can do this. The instructions at this link work for both XP and Vista: > > Configure Windows to Automatically Login (MVP Ramesh) - > http://windowsxp.mvps.org/Autologon.htm > > All that aside, if you want to keep the contents on your external hard > drive > private, consider encrypting it with something like TrueCrypt (free). > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers > www.elephantboycomputers.com > Don't Panic! </span> Quote
Guest Malke Posted June 8, 2008 Posted June 8, 2008 Mike McCollister wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > What is wrong with using the Guest account?</span> The Guest account is not for when you are feeling hospitable. It is a system account used only to temporarily allow someone without an account on the system to log on and do some work. From TechNet http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...echNet.10).aspx "The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to the system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system through this account." That's why it is normally disabled in Windows, Unix, OS X, and Linux. Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com Don't Panic! Quote
Guest Mike McCollister Posted June 12, 2008 Posted June 12, 2008 Malke, How is this less secure than just creating a standard user account? Mike "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:eLFAuIayIHA.4376@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Mike McCollister wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> What is wrong with using the Guest account?</span> > > The Guest account is not for when you are feeling hospitable. It is a > system > account used only to temporarily allow someone without an account on the > system to log on and do some work. > > From TechNet > http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library...echNet.10).aspx > > "The Guest account is intended for users who require temporary access to > the > system. However, if this account is enabled, a security risk may exist > because an unauthorized user could gain anonymous access to the system > through this account." > > That's why it is normally disabled in Windows, Unix, OS X, and Linux. > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers > www.elephantboycomputers.com > Don't Panic! </span> Quote
Guest Malke Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 Mike McCollister wrote: <span style="color:blue"> > Malke, > > How is this less secure than just creating a standard user account?</span> Guest has different permissions. Read the TechNet article and other security articles about Guest. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=why+i...G=Google+Search Malke -- MS-MVP Elephant Boy Computers www.elephantboycomputers.com Don't Panic! Quote
Guest Mike McCollister Posted June 13, 2008 Posted June 13, 2008 Thanks for the info. Mike "Malke" <malke@invalid.invalid> wrote in message news:uCjPlpOzIHA.4772@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...<span style="color:blue"> > Mike McCollister wrote: ><span style="color:green"> >> Malke, >> >> How is this less secure than just creating a standard user account?</span> > > Guest has different permissions. Read the TechNet article and other > security > articles about Guest. > > http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=why+i...G=Google+Search > > Malke > -- > MS-MVP > Elephant Boy Computers > www.elephantboycomputers.com > Don't Panic! </span> Quote
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