Breaking into my PC

[beavereater]

I have a password when windows starts up. I normally wouldn't do this, but since crime is on the rise in my area (4 attempted break in's in the last 6 months...all met with baseball bats), I figure if someone steals my PC why make its easy on them to get access to my software and other sensitive data. SO, my question is...is that password (I am assuming it's the administrators password that you can use when first installing windows) can it be EASILY broken?? Could they just look stuff up on the internet to figure it out, or bring into some PC shop??

If so, is there some other type of software that I can install that will LOCK the PC until the correct password is put in. I'm not worried about losing my password, and I have no problem formatting if I ever did lose. AND...can the same go with an EXTERNAL harddrive!?

[shelbyGT]

can't you set up a bios password? One you have to enter before windows even begins? I had that on my old one.

[beavereater]

Yeah...all I want to do is make it as hard as possible for someone else to get on my PC, where a last resort would be to either hire some tech freak to bypass the password. I'm just talking everyday people, or tech support at some stores or something. But even a BIOS password, is that easy to get by.

One of the reasons is, I keep files on my PC that are money related (Visa and Mastercard) and although I would quickly cancel them...there's just a lot of other personal stuff I wanna make sure doesn't fall into some scumbags hands. If he takes my PC...nothing I can do, but I make it impossible for the thief to get into my PC then he thinks it's broken or gets pissed and I am happy with that. Besides, I'm covered under insurance so a new PC would be nice

[bugster]

Windows password.

My 1st thought (and maybe I am not the average guy in the street as far as PC's are concerned, like many videohelp members) qould be to do a fresh install of windows without re-formatting. Then you select password (or none) and you are in, no data lost or destroyed!

Does that ease your mind

[Cobra]

BIOS passwords are dead easy to bypass. Just clear CMOS and it goes away. Windows passwords are probably the best, and tell it to make all your folders and files private. Just remember - should Windows get so badly screwed that it cannot boot, you won't be able to back up your data.

Also, why not encrypt your sensitive data? That will stop anyone getting a hold of it, even if they break into Windows.

[BobV]

I thought you could get bast the Bios Password by reseting the Bios... i.e. remove the battery.

[rallynavvie]

Yeah but if they really wanted the data on the hard drives they'd just toss them in as secondary drives and boot into another OS in order to access your boot drive. As far as security of your files goes physical security is the best. Get a lockdown kit and bolt the sucker to your wall, and padlock the case shut if you have a case that supports it. Thieves will usually only mess with things that aren't locked down especially since they usually don't bring bolt cutters into someone's place. Why would they expect people to bolt things down in their own home?

[makntraks]

Do you really think they'd take the time to look at data on your HD??? First thing they would do would be to remove any trace evidence and pawn it or sell it for crack, etc.....

And do you think they'd actually be smart ernough to know where to begin???

If you're interested here is a great program - Magic Folders and it works pretty sweet my system..

makntraks

[Jester700]

You can get past the windows password, too. Though the tool I use (and probably the vast majority of these things) resets the password, so you'd know if you were hacked. I don't think this is the "average criminal" kinda thing, but it isn't hard, either.

[housepig]

Yeah but if they really wanted the data on the hard drives they'd just toss them in as secondary drives and boot into another OS in order to access your boot drive.

... or put a live cd like Knoppix in the cd-rom and boot from there, no swapping of drives needed...

[beavereater]

thanks...

Here in Japan, a lot of people are breaking in and ripping open PC's just for harddrives because Japanese people keep EVERYTHING (Credit card stuff and the lot if it) on their PC.

I guess there is no real way to keep someone from getting on to your harddrive and getting the data they want, unless you encrypt it or hide it some other way. Oh well...thanks for the advice

[Capmaster]

I thought you could get bast the Bios Password by reseting the Bios... i.e. remove the battery.

That's what Cobra suggested. You can do it by removing the battery or by shorting the two "Reset BIOS" pins that are on the motherboard.

[shelbyGT]

Hey, it was just a thought

[smearbrick1]

The ultimate in hard drive security would be to adopt a system similar to the Xbox hardware where the harddrive is matched to the motherboard by a drive code. Even if swap the drive to another xbox, you won't be able to access it because the hardware codes don't match. Of course, there are ways around this, but it's not exactly easy.. Then again, they probably have already implemented this somewhere else.

[stiltman]

Just encrypt the folders that contain the data you don't want a thief to get. Even if they bypass the BIOS security and install the OS over itself, they will not be able to decrypt the folders

[gastorgrab]

Removable hard drive rack.

They can't steal what isn't there!

---edit----

Better yet,

go get two of them, buy a cheap Piece-O-Crap hard drive on Ebay, then load it up with the nastiest virus you can find.

Let em steal that!

[SquirrelDip]

Check out:
http://www.securstar.com/

They may have what you're looking for...

[ViRaL1]

I'd have to agree with Stiltman on this one. That or a removable rack. Or my personal favorite, the ever popular second rack rigged with explosives.

[Goober57]

Removable hard drive rack.

They can't steal what isn't there!

---edit----

Better yet,

go get two of them, buy a cheap Piece-O-Crap hard drive on Ebay, then load it up with the nastiest virus you can find.

Let em steal that!

That's what I did.

I have a couple of these in all of my computers so that I can move large video files around.
The operating system is in them too on some of the computers.

The drawers are easy and quick to use. Just turn the key and pull 'em out! (The tiny fans inside are just a bit noisy.)

Replace them with a virus-filled ebay harddrive as was mentioned!!!

This is what I have. I bought them from Directron.

http://www.directron.com/kf23.html

I also have large external drives which could also solve the problem.

Didn't know there was a problem like that in Japan.