how safe are the contents of my hard drive if I have password protected Windows XP Pro?

Question

Hi,

I have XP pro and use a password to log on. If someone took out the hard drive and put it in a different machine would they be able to get to my personal info (I am talking about your average hoodlum, not the CIA) without the password?

Answer 1

All your passwords are for the operating system only. Even the bios password pertains to that specific mother board only. If somebody takes out your hard disk and inserts as a secondary harddisk to some other computer he can definetly view all you files and copy / handle them as he likes. The best thing I would suggest you is to store all your important data / files on a pen drive and delete them from the hard disk.

Answer 2

Yes they would. It doesn't even have to be taken out, just get the Ultimate Boot CD for Windows, its free, boot the computer and set a new administrative password. Reboot the machine and your in. If you connect to another Windows XP machine you can see the files just fine; you can't boot another computer with a different hard drive however, the security in Windows checks the motherboard info. Windows security is pretty much a joke. If your serious about securing your info you should check out PGP, link below. They make the only program I know of that will encrypt the entire hard drive, including the operating system. And unless it's a matter of national security even the CIA can't access your computer.

Answer 3

Oh, sure. Piece of cake, a 10 year old could do it! Passwords would take a while longer, but still give it a little time and they to will be revealed.

Answer 4

Unfortunately yes they could. Just a little bit of knowledge is all it would take. Sorry. But that is a fact.

Answer 5

Any live linux distro will enable all of your files to be viewed.

Answer 6

thier is nothing, 100% secured,

Answer 7

so it seems so, I sit corrected