I want total control over my PC and it's programs!

[Kitrax]

I've heard that there is a program out there that lets you (the system admin) put password protections on certain programs, system folders, and files that prevents other users from opening them...ie. password protect the cofig.sys file. Does anyone know what this program is called and where I can get it?

[ejsmith]

Good Lord.

That's part of NT. I'm not really sure about NT4.0, as I never messed with it. I used it, but never loaded it. NT5.* will let you. And, of course, *nix will too.

[teekc]

doesn't winXP do that? i am not too big into password protection. Actually any protection in general as well. i don't have any antivirus program. But i think as the admin of winXP, you manage different user account.

[Ahrontil]

This won't make much sense as it is not an operating system specific answer but;


Creating separate user profiles is normally the key to sharing a computer. Win98 only maintains individual desktop etc. settings under its user profiles, nothing is actually protected.

You generally need an opertating system that uses NTFS like Windows XP or NT before you can assign password protection to files. Even then, this protection is intended for data files, not system files, which every user must have some access to. The system files are protected instead by allowing only Administrators to access the system applications (services) that modify these files.

This protection prevents accidental damage, but not the deliberate modification of the files outside of Windows' normal operation.

It sounds like you are suffering from the latter type of damage, and one solution would be to install a seperate copy of windows on a new hard disk, and dual boot your machine, with each user having their own copy of windows to modify at will.

config.sys and autoexec.bat are unfortunately still shared by by both copies of windows (for win98 anyway), and they reside on the primary boot disk (C: usually). A Guest Account cannot see these files in XP, but programs that a Guest runs can still modify them.

Microsoft is doing its best to move away from using these old DOS files, and usually the settings they contain only affect old legacy devices, like sound cards, and a few applications like AVG Antivirus.

The only ways that I can think of you being able to protect them would be;

Backup a copy that you can reinstate if they are damaged, or put the files on a system formatted floppy disk, along with all the others that are required to boot your computer (A bit technical).

You could subtly move the boot partition from the c: drive to the new D: drive, meaning that the config.sys on c: wouldn't actually do anything.(Sneaky and again a bit technical).


Find out why the files are being changed. Multiple hardware configurations can be used by writing DOS batch file commands into the config.sys and autoexec.bat files. Although there should be no need to maually open and change the config.sys file to accomodate different hardware configurations from Win98 onwards.

If a person has direct access to your computer they can always change or delete files. You can turn on the CMOS password which will stop the computer from booting if it is not a shared machine but even that can be bypassed (although it means lifting the lid off the computer).

P.S. There is a Virus warning on the radio at the moment. I think it said it was the I'm So Big Virus.

[Kitrax]

Let me re-phrase the explanation. I have a ton of pictures of me and my friends on my computer. Sometimes, when my dad is being an idiot, he likes to edit my pictures (ie, give me devil's horns and missing teeth), and then he saves them like that.
I want something other than the OS to make it so that no one can get in to that folder without first giving a password. I don't want him to be able to see the files at all.

For another example, I want a dialog box to pop up and ask for a password before a specified folder even opens, and if the password is wrong, then the user can't get into that folder...make sense?

[Ahrontil]

Winzip allows you to password protect your files and save space at the same time. Just create a new zip file and assign it a password (Password button is on the file selection dialogue box).

If you would prefer something that didn't require you to extract your files each time you wanted to use them, then there is a way to create virtual hard disks that only you can use. It requires a bit of one-time-only effort to install the software, but the rewards are worth it.

PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) is one of the 'founding fathers' in terms of encryption software. It is free for non-commercial use, which is one of the reasons that its author, Philip Zimmermann, is a geek/hacker/computer-scientist legend.

It is a large program that does everything from encrpting single files, to creating an entire virtual disk that is password protected, but it runs almost unnoticed in the background on your computer.

The program is broken down into four parts, and you can ignore the ones you don't need. Its major purpose is to allow the secure sending of emails with secret info, like the storyline/code of your latest world-conquering computer game. It does this using a pair of public/private keys (passwords), and no one else can read your email.

What you are really interested in though is the pgpdisk. It is simply a password-protected file on your computer called 'diskname.pgd' that behaves like a cross between a zip file and a separate physical hard disk.

You set it up by saying what size you want it and give it a password. When you use the computer you load the file (called mounting the disk) by double clicking on it and then enter your password. After that it acts like your own personal hard disk.

Download size is 7.53MB

The web site

http://web.mit.edu/network/pgp.html

Quick instructions

Go to home page above.
Scroll down to the version links.
Click on the one for your operating system.

New web page

Answer yes,yes,yes,yes. (Encryption software is treated like munitions, long story...)

Submit

Click on the link for your Operating System to download the zip file.

Wait.

Extract the zip to a temp folder and then run setup.

Restart your computer.


You should see a pgp icon in your system tray (beside the clock)

Right click on the icon.

click on pgpdisk.

Pick New.

Pick were you want to save the disk (somewhere you can find it and where it won't de deleted).

Pick its size (make a trial disk with 1 MB, you can always delete it, but you can't resize it). The drive letter is automatic, don't worry about it.

Enter your password twice. Since it is only your dad I would keep it simple, though longer is better.(It must be more than 8 characters. I always 'unhide typing' as I am typographically clumbsy )

Wiggle you mouse to generate random data.

Next, Next, Finish.

[Format] pops up.

Chose file system to match the one you currently use (Open My Computer and right click on your hard drive if you are not sure).

Chose quick format (Doesn't matter, no real formatting is done)

Standard format warning pops up, click OK.

Job done, you will now find that you have your own private personal virtual hard disk.

To unmount it you can use the pgpdisk tray icons, or you can unmount it by right clicking on it in My Computer, then selecting pgpdisk-->unmount. Remount it by double clicking the ********.pgd file when you next logon.


There are many smaller programs which can do something similar to this, but;

The use of pgp quickly becomes second nature.
It has all the functions you may may need in the future.
It has detailed explanations about why and when you need x,y and z.
Its free.
Its updated when neccessary.
It works flawlessly and consistently (but make regular backups of your data anyway and make sure that your password is one you use regularly or you wll end up locked out too).

********.pgd files on a cdrom should be treated as strictly read-only.

If you save the ******.pgd file to a cdrom as a backup then you can still open it. I would advise against editing its contents whilst on a cdrom as the changes are not saved. They will corrupt the *****.pgd file and wreck the backup.

All my personal files (like my CV etc, on my computer are protected in a pgd file, so that if a trogan does allow someone on the net access to my computer then all they can get is my Gandalf desktop pic. (Its not going to happen though, I use Zonealarm, God bless Steve Gibson, and a simple 'shared-secret' subject line for anyone that wants to send me an email attachment).

If you need any more info on PGP or how to use it please ask. If you want to tell me I'm a geek, please take a number and join the back of the queue.

[ August 23, 2003, 05:45: Message edited by: Bluin ]

[Wordplay]

Blah, some long explanation there.

Visit www.webattack.com -there you can find (downloads and links) to all kind of software, both freeware and shareware. I'm 90% sure you can find this program from there.

[Ahrontil]

Blah, too short an answer.

It is the last 10% that counts when software is concerned.

Many of the programs on that site are trialware, after 30 days they stop working unless you pay for them. That is bad enough but some are both trialware and crippleware. Some of the functionality of the trial versions is restricted or completely absent.

The first thing I did was suggest using Winzip, how much more simple do you want me to make it?

The rest is for those that want a unified suite of integrated security programs. It is not an explanation, it is a concise installation and execution guide. You will waste more time testing crippleware than you will installing PGP. For those that still say blah, please install Lock Folders or Hide Folders, and suffer the consequences.

Would anyone like to suggest a program that they actually use on a day to day basis?

[ August 23, 2003, 19:24: Message edited by: Bluin ]

[Kitrax]

I was talking to my friend who is a computer tech, and he suggested Norton System Works. He didn't say if it could do what I wanted, so I checked online at it's website, but it wasn't very detailed either. If anyone has this software, please let me know everything it can do.

[SoCo]

Couldn't you just make it an hidden folder?

[Wordplay]

I bet the that won't help... If the "prankster" wants something done.

[Kitrax]

Couldn't you just make it an hidden folder?

I could, but as Virne said, it would do no good at all. I need good ol' password protection.

Geeze, I wish I was a software developer so I could just make my own program.

[Morgoth]

Web security

This site has some nice tools for security

[The Wise One]

Ah -- if you want TOTAL security, get Linux. Preferably Red Hat Linux 8.0, that distribution is pretty complete and all that. You can even get word processors for it that will read .doc files. PDF readers are also included. And more importantly, everything in Linux comes with full source code! So that means, if you want to change something, you can dig into the source code, find the area you want to change, then -- wait a sec, I'm getting off topic. Linux allows you to change 'permissions', which limits the viewing, editing, or executing of files by other users or other users in your group, or everyone else. Of course, if you want to keep Windows, along with all your files in it, you can either use the password systems included with it, use WinZip, or get encryption software. The difficulty with the encryption and WinZip is, with encryption software you have to decrypt it and encrypt it again, then delete the temporary. With WinZip you have to extract a file everytime you use it. OR, you could save your images in a different file format--if you haven't changed file formats yet, the default for .GIF files is to view them in Internet Explorer. Of course, it'll only take a few minutes to get around that, but a temporary solution.

[Morgoth]

8.0?? Not really, I heard it is the worst version, try 7.3 or 9.0