Tips for Tightening User Account Security

Windows comes in for a lot of criticism about its lack of security, but in fact, the Windows platform has all the necessary elements for a secure OS. Windows has strong user and group management features, detailed access control mechanisms, extensive rights separation, and robust authentication and encryption features. Even so, just having these features isn't enough—to maximize system security, administrators and applications must make use of the features.

One common problem area is that of user access. User authentication is the foundation of the Windows security mechanism. So, for example, if an intruder discovers an Administrator password and logs on as that user, the intruder will gain administrative access to the machine. Moreover, if a user can move his or her account into the Administrators group, he or she gains full access to all machines to which the group has access. Therefore, one key to securing Windows is to properly secure user accounts. Here are the steps you can take to do that. . . .