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COMPUTER PLATFORMS
First Year Higher National Diploma 2009-2010
Practical 4: User Accounts and Policies
TASK 1: ENABLING/DISABLING USER ACCOUNTS AND SWITCHING BETWEEN USERS
Load the Windows Vista virtual machine and access Local Users and Groups from Control Panel >
Administrative Tools > Computer Management.
a. Click on Users from the left menu. Name the user accounts that already exist.
b. You are logged on as __________________________.
Are you able to log off and log in with the other user accounts’ credentials? Yes No Why?
c. Note down the actions required to log in as another existing user as requested in (b)?
d. Which group(s) does ‘Student’ belong to?
e. Set the Administrator’s password to admin1 and Student’s password to 123. Log off.
f. Log in as Administrator.
1. Change the Visual Effects to Adjust for best performance.
2. Set the Wallpaper to a solid black colour.
g. Log in as Guest. (Hint: If this option does not appear, check out the whether it is ON from Control
Panel’s User Accounts)
Computer Platforms Practical 4 1.
h. Attempt the following actions and note down whether it was possible to carry them out:
Possible Not Possible
1. Changing Performance Options Visual Effects
2. Changing Virtual Memory Settings
3. Changing Process Scheduling Settings
4. Changing the Service which run at Startup
5. Creating a System Restore Point
6. Changing the Desktop Wallpaper
7. Checking Hard Disks for Errors
8. Changing Windows Firewall Settings
9. Disabling Hardware from Device Manager
10. Changing the Date & Time
11. Changing the TimeZone
12. Turning Windows features On/Off
13. Enabling/Disabling other users’ accounts
Why do you think some of these tasks could not be carried out?
TASK 2: CREATING NEW LOCAL USER ACCOUNTS
Log in Windows Vista as ‘Administrator’ and access the Computer Management found in Control
Panel.
a. Create local user accounts using the following information:
Account 1 Account 2 Account 3
Full Name: Peter Abela Full Name: Fred Calleja Full Name: Silvio Pace
username: peteabela username: fredcall username: techpro1
password: test123 password: test123 password: admin1
Member of: users Member of: users Member of: Administrators
Note down the settings configured to carry out the following tasks:
b. Prompt Account 1 and Account 2 users to change password at the next logon:
c. Ensure that Mr Abela and Mr Calleja are requested to periodically change their passwords.
However the Technician should never be requested to change his/her password.
Computer Platforms Practical 4 2.
d. Make sure that all accounts are enabled.
TASK 3: CHANGING LOCAL SECURITY POLICIES
Access the Local Security Policy editor listed under Computer Management in Control Panel.
a. Are there any password-related restrictions currently set under Account Policies? Yes No
What does this imply?
b. Set up the following security settings, taking note of the changes in policies made for each:
1. users are requested to change their passwords approximately every month and no previously-used
password can be used again in a 1-year period
1. passwords must be at least 8 characters long
2. passwords must contain a mix of letters, numbers and symbols in order to increase security
c. Navigate through the other settings related to Account Lockout policies. List them down:
d. Set up the following security settings, taking note of the changes in policies made for each:
3. only 4 attempts are allowed for any user who fails to properly log in with the set account
credentials.
4. the user may not attempt logging in again unless the administrator manually activates the locked
account again.
5. the lockout counter is reset after 40 minutes.
Computer Platforms Practical 4 3.
6. Can the Lockout counter time be longer than the Account lockout duration? Yes No Why?
e. Access the Local Audit Policy to log any successful or failed logon events. Take note of the changes
made:
f. Change the appropriate User Rights Assignment Policy so that Mr Peter Abela and Guests are not
allowed to shut down the system. All other users should still be able to carry out this operation.
Take note of the changes made:
g. Change the appropriate User Rights Assignment Policy so that only Administrators can change the
system time and the time zone. Take note of the changes made:
TASK 4: VERIFYING USER ACCOUNTS AND POLICIES
Test the settings carried out in TASK 3 above through the following steps:
1. Try logging in as Peter Abela, Fred Calleja and Silvio Pace.
1. Were you requested to change the password for every account? Yes No
2. Try changing the password to ‘hello’ for these accounts. Is this possible? Yes No
3. Are you able to Shut Down the system when logged in as Peter Abela? Yes No
c. Log in with Peter Abela’s username, giving 4 wrong passwords. What happens?
d. Log in as Administrator and access Peter Abela’s Account from Local Users and Groups.
What do you note in his account settings?
Computer Platforms Practical 4 4.
e. Access Event Viewer from the Administrative Tools. Which entries do you note under Windows Logs
> Security?
Computer Platforms Practical 4 5.