Is Windows XP Login Password really safe?

[IronGalaxy]

I made a password for the admin login on my XP Home edition, and im wondering how hard it would be to break the password and get admin.

Ive heard in the past that the windows password login feature is a joke.



Anyone??

[Telexen]

Like any other version of Windows it can be cracked ... but it's better than Windows 98's at least.

[ChubTub]

Might want to change the name of the admin account that way it will at least slow them up some.

[IronGalaxy]

Ah, thanks for the input guys

[DVNT1]

Trying to relate how hard is difficult. It can be very secure.

A lot of it depends on your password complexity. Using the login name as the password can be cracked extremely fast via brute force tools.

Since many brute force tools require access to the password hashes, cracking difficulty will also depend on how secure you keep your PC (like what do you share, file system type, physical access to the computer, virus, trojans, etc..).

[Mate88]

Depends, the best thing to do is go to gpedit.msc and find the ctrl-alt-del option in login that XP does have but is hidden. Also the feature that it doesnt remember your login name like normally, so you need to type your name very time you login, nice feature

All found in gpedit.msc, hope this helps!

[DVNT1]

Mate88: I'm just curious, why do you think enabling ctrl-alt-del will help with security in that situation?

[Agent_Embryo]

You could always try the evaluation version of LC4 and check if it can crack your password. It won't use brute-force mode in the unregistered version, but you can get a good idea of how secure your password is.