On Tuesday, April 22, 2014 9:11:42 AM UTC-4, philo* wrote:
On 04/22/2014 08:03 AM, Mayayana wrote:

Windows password cracking software exists and

works quite well.



The other options you talk about require actions

on the part of software. I don't know of any function

like that in Windows -- and certainly not in other

software -- to do that. You can't just open the options

settings in any program and set high security startup

options.



A lot easier would be to set a BIOS password. Boot

into the BIOS and set a password for both the booting

and for access to the BIOS itself. Then the only likely

way to get around it is to remove the PC's battery for

long enough to wipe the BIOS, or to take out the hard

disk and hook it up elswhere. If the BIOS depends on

non-default settings then people won't be able to wipe

the BIOS without making the machine unbootable, so

that's further security. But there's only so much you can

do. If someone wants to get at the data on the disk

they can probably do it. The only question is how expert

they need to be.









snip





A very good suggestion.



Even if you use an "uncrackable" Windows password, if someone has

physical access to your machine the data can easily be retrieved simply

by booting from a Linux USB stick.




Bingo. Exactly what I was thinking. I think this is a troll anyway,
1000 byte password? Anyone that determined to get what's on the PC
isn't going to be wasting time to crack the Windows PWD when they can
get to the data on the hard drive by other means. The better approach
would be to encrypt whatever it is that's so super secret.