Windows

The Guest Account Is The Hacker's Holy Grail

Posted by on Jan 14, 2005 | 2 Comments

The guest account has always been a huge hacker hole, and should be disabled as soon as you install Windows XP on your workstation. Unfortunately, this setting recommendation only applies to Windows XP Professional computers that belong to a domain or to computers that do not use the Simple File Sharing model. Windows XP Home Edition will not allow you to disable the Guest account.

When you disable the Guest account in Windows XP Home Edition via the Control Panel, it only removes the listing of the Guest account from the Fast User Switching Welcome screen, and the Log-On Local right. The network credentials will remain intact and guest users will still be able to connect to shared resources of the affected machine across a network. The best workaround for Windows XP Home Users is to assign a strong password to the Guest account.

  • Brian

    You can disable the guest account completely. To do this follow the steps below…
    ————————-
    Short Way…
    ————————-
    1. Click “Start”
    2. Click “Run”
    3. Type “control userpasswords2″
    4. Press “Enter”
    ————————-
    Longer Way…
    ————————-
    1. Click “Start”
    2. Goto “All Programs”
    3. Goto “Administrative Tools”
    4. Click “Computer Management”
    5. Click “Local Users and Groups”
    6. Double Click “Users”
    7. Right Click “Guest”
    8. Click “Properties”
    9. Make sure the “Account is disabled”
    check box has a check in it.
    10. Click “Apply”
    11. Click “Ok”
    ———————————

  • http://na TechJunkie57

    it is almost impossible to completely disable ANY version of a guest account in windows: the OS uses it to bypass and share system files and shared network information, even if your machine does not have any of these things actively (set up by you) implemented. To completely disable it would make far more problems than the risk of having it partially working in the background the way windows has it set up.

    The trick then is to disable to USER ability to use it or log on with it, and protect the system from unauthorized activity VIA the guest account addressing, by using a stronger firewall than ICF and protecting ones OS from malicious activity coming in as well as origionating (trojans, etc) from WITHIN one’s PC.

    DIsable the guest accocunt, but remember, windows MUST have it for file sharing and network protocols- so all the “disabling” you hear about is simply a “visual” fix- but it still runs in the background, and so it can still be accessed by a sophisticated virus or hacker.

    In most cases, the later isn’t a problem or an issue.