Hardware Tips: Boot Passwords Put Your PC Under Lock and Key

Think your data is safe behind a Windows password? Think again. Unless you've changed the defaults, anyone can boot your PC from a floppy disk or CD-ROM and plunder the paths of your hard drive like Winona Ryder at a day-after-Christmas sale. To really keep your files safe, password-protect boot-up itself so that your PC boots only with your authorization. No one else will be able to access your machine's floppy drive or CD-ROM drive, and hence they'll have no backdoor access to your hard drive.

To enable the boot-up password (aka user password, system password, power-on password, and other names), open your PC Setup program by pressing the key you're prompted to enter when your machine first starts (before Windows loads)--usually Delete, F1, or F2.

Look on Setup's main menu for User Password, Security Settings, or a similar menu selection (see FIGURE 1). When prompted, enter your password of choice, but type carefully--resetting a lost or forgotten boot-up password is no picnic. (Note that some PCs allow you to add a Setup password to prevent unauthorized access to the Setup program itself. Consult your motherboard manual to see if this feature is available on your system.)

Many motherboards have a switch, or jumper, to reset the boot-up password if you need to do so. Unplug your PC, open the case, and reposition the jumper. To avoid frying your system's delicate circuitry with charges from your body, always use an antistatic wrist strap, or otherwise ground yourself, before entering the PC's case.

If there's no jumper on your motherboard for resetting the password, look for a switch that resets your entire Setup program. This clears the boot-up password, but it also erases your other settings. Restore them by rebooting your system, reentering Setup, and selecting Restore Default Settings or a similar option (in Figure 1, the restore option is Load Optimized Defaults). Motherboard and PC vendors sometimes make their own optimizing adjustments to the settings, however, so to ensure that you can return to your PC's previous Setup configuration, copy your settings or take photos of each Setup screen before resetting. If you use a digital camera, print the photos--you won't have access to them if they're stored on a PC you can't start up.

If neither of these password-override options works, remove the small CMOS battery on the motherboard. With no battery, the CMOS clock/calendar chip that holds the Setup program (in addition to the date and time, of course) will lose all its settings. If your battery is removable (check your manual), take it out for at least an hour to discharge the CMOS chip.

You may be able to avoid opening your PC by visiting the Web site of your system or motherboard manufacturer to see if you can download a flash BIOS upgrade for your motherboard. The upgrade not only eliminates the password, but it may also update your BIOS to a newer version. Remember: Always read and follow BIOS upgrade instructions to the letter.

PC Lockdown

Keeping your data safe also means keeping people out of your PC's case. Boot-up passwords can be disabled, and it's not difficult to remove a hard disk, copy its contents, and replace it with no sign of tampering. The $30 CoverLock from Secure-It will help keep intruders out.

For your next notebook, consider one with the TheftGuard BIOS-based security system from Softex and BIOS maker Phoenix Technologies. TheftGuard tracks and disables a notebook when it first connects to the Internet after being reported stolen, and it's impervious to hard-drive reformats. TheftGuard-enabled systems are expected in late 2003 or in 2004.