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Windows 10 Stop someone from hacking into my system without a password
- Thread starter wfz
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You'll want to implement full disk encryption. When a computer is not encrypted all that is required is physical access to the computer and it's child's play to bypass passwords. Once the computer is encrypted they won't be able to employ any tricks to get access to the computer.
Vera Crypt is free and pretty easy to use. Just make sure you make the password difficult enough, but don't lose it or your data is gone.
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Vera Crypt is free and pretty easy to use. Just make sure you make the password difficult enough, but don't lose it or your data is gone.
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Well, that's a tough one unless you're willing to setup some physical access restrictions such as install a lock on the door to the room where your PC is. One trick I used to recommend to customers with computer savvy kids, is if you can't lock the door to the room the PC is in, such as a living room or a study with no door; buy yourself a locking 2-drawer or 4-drawer STEEL file cabinet $75-$125 or so, and disconnect the keyboard from the PC when you leave your house to run errands or go to work. You kid will not be able to login to your PC without having a keyboard connected with which to type in the password or utilize hacking tools on! This works really well. Remember to not leave the file cabinet drawer key laying around where he can find it; best to put it on your key-ring so only you have it. No keyboard--no access to your PC!
When you get home and want to use your PC, unlock your file cabinet, remove your keyboard and plug in to your PC--you're ready to work! When done, unplug keyboard place back in locking file cabinet and your protected!
Oh another thing, I recommend you take your PC to your local licensed Computer Pro and have them clean off all viruses and Hacking Tools. There is a Hacking Tool called a keylogger, which your kid probably find out about from other school chums or hacking sites. The Hacking Tool could have been installed on your PC when you weren't watching him closely; it only takes a few minutes. Then the next time you are logged into the computer and you let your kid on to do his homework, he launches the keylogger file and opens up the program which has captured your Windows login password to a text file.
He can then read your password in the text file, copy it down, and have it whenever you're not home to login to your computer!
It's also pretty easy to print out the keylogger capture file with the password to a connected printer which most folks have on their computers at home. **THE NASTY PART ABOUT THIS IS, IF YOU DECIDED TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD TO KEEP HIM OUT OF YOUR PC; THE NEXT TIME YOU LOGIN HIM IN AND TURN YOUR BACK--THEY CAN OPEN UP THAT KEYLOGGER PROGRAM AND GET YOUR NEW PASSWORD AND GET RIGHT BACK IN AGAIN! SO, EVEN IF YOU CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD EVERY SINGLE DAY, UNLESS YOU GET THAT KEYLOGGER REMOVED FROM YOUR PC, YOUR SON CAN GET INTO YOUR PC WHENEVER YOU'RE GONE FROM HOME!!!***
And, when you do take your PC into your local Computer Pro to service; make sure you tell him that you suspect he/she has been installing and using Hacking Tools, including a possible keylogger onto your PC to gain unauthorized access to your computer when you're not home. This is important; as these programs often can't be removed with standard program removal methods. It takes expert level skill to remove them. Many Techs who are not properly licensed, do not have the education or skill to do so. If you get a Tech who doesn't know how to do this, they will probably tell you they cannot find any keylogger programs and will offer to do a Windows Reinstall. You should tell him that's what you want. It will cost you even more money than the Service Call for a virus cleanup; but worth it as that process will definitely remove the keylogger from your PC.
Remember that Physical Access is the best way to keep your kids out of your PC! But, nothing substitutes for good parenting and supervision. I have Customers who use their Computers for babysitters, and give them a laptop and let them go into their rooms for 2/3 days and even lock their doors and the Parents have no idea what they are doing with that computer. I see those often, and the parents when I tell them not to do that, nod their heads in agreement, and then a few months later I get a call from the same Parent asking me to once again clean up the mess on their laptop.
Hope that provides you with some good information,
<<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>>
When you get home and want to use your PC, unlock your file cabinet, remove your keyboard and plug in to your PC--you're ready to work! When done, unplug keyboard place back in locking file cabinet and your protected!Oh another thing, I recommend you take your PC to your local licensed Computer Pro and have them clean off all viruses and Hacking Tools. There is a Hacking Tool called a keylogger, which your kid probably find out about from other school chums or hacking sites. The Hacking Tool could have been installed on your PC when you weren't watching him closely; it only takes a few minutes. Then the next time you are logged into the computer and you let your kid on to do his homework, he launches the keylogger file and opens up the program which has captured your Windows login password to a text file.
He can then read your password in the text file, copy it down, and have it whenever you're not home to login to your computer! It's also pretty easy to print out the keylogger capture file with the password to a connected printer which most folks have on their computers at home. **THE NASTY PART ABOUT THIS IS, IF YOU DECIDED TO CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD TO KEEP HIM OUT OF YOUR PC; THE NEXT TIME YOU LOGIN HIM IN AND TURN YOUR BACK--THEY CAN OPEN UP THAT KEYLOGGER PROGRAM AND GET YOUR NEW PASSWORD AND GET RIGHT BACK IN AGAIN! SO, EVEN IF YOU CHANGE YOUR PASSWORD EVERY SINGLE DAY, UNLESS YOU GET THAT KEYLOGGER REMOVED FROM YOUR PC, YOUR SON CAN GET INTO YOUR PC WHENEVER YOU'RE GONE FROM HOME!!!***And, when you do take your PC into your local Computer Pro to service; make sure you tell him that you suspect he/she has been installing and using Hacking Tools, including a possible keylogger onto your PC to gain unauthorized access to your computer when you're not home. This is important; as these programs often can't be removed with standard program removal methods. It takes expert level skill to remove them. Many Techs who are not properly licensed, do not have the education or skill to do so. If you get a Tech who doesn't know how to do this, they will probably tell you they cannot find any keylogger programs and will offer to do a Windows Reinstall. You should tell him that's what you want. It will cost you even more money than the Service Call for a virus cleanup; but worth it as that process will definitely remove the keylogger from your PC.
Remember that Physical Access is the best way to keep your kids out of your PC! But, nothing substitutes for good parenting and supervision. I have Customers who use their Computers for babysitters, and give them a laptop and let them go into their rooms for 2/3 days and even lock their doors and the Parents have no idea what they are doing with that computer. I see those often, and the parents when I tell them not to do that, nod their heads in agreement, and then a few months later I get a call from the same Parent asking me to once again clean up the mess on their laptop.
Hope that provides you with some good information,
<<<<BIGBEARJEDI>>>>
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Hi
I always laugh when I see a TV Cop show and they want to get data off of a suspects computer and don't know the password.
There is one really easy way to get into almost any computer in just a couple of minutes, even one that wont boot.
I'm sure that any investigation team would have someone who could get in easily.
But as everyone said, there's no easy way to secure your computer from someone who wants to get in short of encrypting the hard drive.
If you do decide to do this, I really advise you to back up all of your data to a external hard drive and put it away someplace.
It would be a good idea to make a System Image file of you C:\ drive before encrypting as well, just in case something does go wrong and you find you can't get in yourself.
I've seen people asking "I encrypted my hard drive and now I can't get into my computer".
You might find this helpful...
http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-guide-to-encryption-what-it-is-and-how-to-1508196946
Mike
I always laugh when I see a TV Cop show and they want to get data off of a suspects computer and don't know the password.
There is one really easy way to get into almost any computer in just a couple of minutes, even one that wont boot.
I'm sure that any investigation team would have someone who could get in easily.
But as everyone said, there's no easy way to secure your computer from someone who wants to get in short of encrypting the hard drive.
If you do decide to do this, I really advise you to back up all of your data to a external hard drive and put it away someplace.
It would be a good idea to make a System Image file of you C:\ drive before encrypting as well, just in case something does go wrong and you find you can't get in yourself.
I've seen people asking "I encrypted my hard drive and now I can't get into my computer".
You might find this helpful...
http://lifehacker.com/a-beginners-guide-to-encryption-what-it-is-and-how-to-1508196946
Mike
trstick1
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SLS79
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This is the best option, because all you have to do is turn the computer off. They can try all they want. They will even leave evidence after 3 attempts, as then Bitlocker will require the recovery key to unlock the drive. The recovery key is 48 characters long. Hell, you can even make it so that BitLocker requires a USB with the recovery key on it to boot the machine Everytime, if I am not mistaken. 3 things to remember when using BitLocker.
1. Always shutdown the machine you want to protect once encrypted.
2. Store your recovery key in a safe and secure location.
3. Always have an encrypted backup image of the important machine and recovery offsite.
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SLS79
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Some good suggestions here, but unless you are working for one of the Government alphabet agencies (FBI, CIA, NCIS, DIA, ATF, HS, NSA)and there is work-related stuff on your laptop, I would strongly advise you against using any kind of disk encryption, regardless of whether it's Microsoft (bitlocker) or 3rd party software.
So, unless you are going to be keeping your kid out of criminal stuff that's on your laptop, or some other stuff on there that you shouldn't have, in my opinion disk encryption is a total overkill for the average home user.
Bear in mind the other guys recommending you to use disk encryption have advanced business IT experience and use this sort of stuff regularly to protect their companies or business Customer's from things like Industrial Espionage. Unless you are using your laptop to login to a network at your office or university, and that information is proprietary, again, a waste of time. We don't know exactly what you have on your laptop, and whether or not you really have these above discussed needs for advanced IT-level protection, but if you do, you may want to hire a Computer Pro or a Tech at your work or University to install Disk Encyrption for you. As Mike and other said, it's CRITICAL you have everything backed up on that laptop BEFORE you attempt Disk Encryption, as well as a Disk Image Backup File; as if you make one wrong mistake during the installation, your stuff is all locked up and you'll be unable to access it FOREVER! Unless you are willing to pay BIG BUCKS for forensic data recovery which costs in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.
These are some things to think about.
And, if that wasn't enough to scare you off; no one mentioned you need to make CERTAIN that you remove any and all external removable storage devices if you do decide to install your own Disk Encryption, such as external USB hard drives, or flash/thumb drives. Again, average folks trying to use this don't realize that if they have 1 or more backup drives connected to their laptop and they install encryption it's very easy to check or forget to uncheck any external drives, and now ALL YOUR EXTERNAL BACKUP DEVICES ARE FULLY ENCRYPTED--IF YOU LOSE THAT KEY, ALL YOUR STUFF IS GONE FOREVER!!
Well, if those arguments didn't dissuade you, I give up.
Food for thought before you jump into Disk Encryption.
<<<<BBJ>>>>
So, unless you are going to be keeping your kid out of criminal stuff that's on your laptop, or some other stuff on there that you shouldn't have, in my opinion disk encryption is a total overkill for the average home user.Bear in mind the other guys recommending you to use disk encryption have advanced business IT experience and use this sort of stuff regularly to protect their companies or business Customer's from things like Industrial Espionage. Unless you are using your laptop to login to a network at your office or university, and that information is proprietary, again, a waste of time. We don't know exactly what you have on your laptop, and whether or not you really have these above discussed needs for advanced IT-level protection, but if you do, you may want to hire a Computer Pro or a Tech at your work or University to install Disk Encyrption for you. As Mike and other said, it's CRITICAL you have everything backed up on that laptop BEFORE you attempt Disk Encryption, as well as a Disk Image Backup File; as if you make one wrong mistake during the installation, your stuff is all locked up and you'll be unable to access it FOREVER! Unless you are willing to pay BIG BUCKS for forensic data recovery which costs in the hundreds to thousands of dollars.
These are some things to think about.And, if that wasn't enough to scare you off; no one mentioned you need to make CERTAIN that you remove any and all external removable storage devices if you do decide to install your own Disk Encryption, such as external USB hard drives, or flash/thumb drives. Again, average folks trying to use this don't realize that if they have 1 or more backup drives connected to their laptop and they install encryption it's very easy to check or forget to uncheck any external drives, and now ALL YOUR EXTERNAL BACKUP DEVICES ARE FULLY ENCRYPTED--IF YOU LOSE THAT KEY, ALL YOUR STUFF IS GONE FOREVER!!
Well, if those arguments didn't dissuade you, I give up.
Food for thought before you jump into Disk Encryption.
<<<<BBJ>>>>
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Hi
While you can't stop someone from getting into your computer, there is a way to stop them from accessing or even seeing data that's on your computer.
There is software that will make a folder, or individual file invisible to anyone looking at your computer.
This won't stop someone from installing games or messing with your computer in other ways but it will keep them out of you personal files.
One option is called Wise Folder Hider, it can only be opened with a password that's not so easy to get around as Windows.
But the real way to make it hard is that you can hide the start icon that opens the program so that no one will even know that the program is there. Don't put an Icon that says Wise Folder Hider on your task bar or start menu.
You just hide the link in a folder someplace that no one would ever look in, but that you can go directly to.
Wise Folder Hider 3.39.148
The Pro Version will also encrypt individual folders but I still feel that encrypting is a risk for things you just can't afford to lose, unless you back them up someplace else.
Mike
While you can't stop someone from getting into your computer, there is a way to stop them from accessing or even seeing data that's on your computer.
There is software that will make a folder, or individual file invisible to anyone looking at your computer.
This won't stop someone from installing games or messing with your computer in other ways but it will keep them out of you personal files.
One option is called Wise Folder Hider, it can only be opened with a password that's not so easy to get around as Windows.
But the real way to make it hard is that you can hide the start icon that opens the program so that no one will even know that the program is there. Don't put an Icon that says Wise Folder Hider on your task bar or start menu.
You just hide the link in a folder someplace that no one would ever look in, but that you can go directly to.
Wise Folder Hider 3.39.148
The Pro Version will also encrypt individual folders but I still feel that encrypting is a risk for things you just can't afford to lose, unless you back them up someplace else.
Mike